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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 120 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: kid · wound · field · scale · rule · shower · rush · capital

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. wound — an injury
  3. field — farmland
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. shower — to wash
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. capital — a city
  8. scale — size or range
  9. field — a subject
  10. kid — to tease
  11. scale — in music
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. rule — government
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. shower — rain
  18. wound — an injury
  19. rush — hurry
  20. kid — child
  21. rule — a law
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. capital — money
  24. scale — for weighing

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