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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: calf · perch · cell · fan · spring · capital · fall · chair

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. capital — a city
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. fall — the season
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. spring — the season
  9. cell — a phone
  10. spring — a coil
  11. capital — money
  12. spring — of water
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. fall — to drop
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. cell — in biology
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. perch — the fish
  24. fall — to drop

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com