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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: lean · wake · shower · hand · capital · spring · game · scale

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. shower — to wash
  3. game — a match
  4. scale — in music
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. wake — a trail
  7. shower — rain
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. lean — thin
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. lean — to bend
  13. hand — help
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. spring — a coil
  16. capital — money
  17. hand — in cards
  18. spring — the season
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. game — wild animals
  21. spring — of water
  22. capital — a city
  23. scale — size or range
  24. wake — before a funeral

Multiple-meaning words list

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

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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