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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: bat · game · march · ground · capital · row · fan · rest

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. game — wild animals
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. rest — what's left
  5. march — music
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. row — a line
  8. row — to paddle
  9. rest — what's left
  10. game — a match
  11. rest — a break
  12. ground — crushed
  13. march — the month
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. ground — the earth
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. march — the month
  19. bat — the animal
  20. ground — a position
  21. capital — money
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. bat — for baseball
  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