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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: pitcher · scale · ground · chest · wound · row · capital · ball

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. ball — a great time
  4. ground — a position
  5. row — to paddle
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. wound — an injury
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. row — a line
  10. capital — a city
  11. scale — size or range
  12. chest — a box
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. scale — in music
  15. ball — a dance
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. chest — of your body
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. chest — of your body
  21. ground — crushed
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. capital — money
  24. ground — the earth

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