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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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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: capital · chest · pitch · swing · cell · march · shower · rest

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. swing — to play on
  3. chest — of your body
  4. march — the month
  5. shower — to wash
  6. cell — a phone
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. rest — what's left
  9. pitch — completely
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. swing — in golf
  12. march — music
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. capital — money
  15. shower — rain
  16. chest — of your body
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. march — the month
  19. swing — music
  20. chest — a box
  21. cell — in biology
  22. rest — what's left
  23. rest — a break
  24. capital — a city

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