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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 · wake · shower · straw · present · patient · capital · perch

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. present — a gift
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. capital — money
  5. present — there
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. bat — the animal
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. wake — a trail
  18. present — the time now
  19. shower — rain
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. perch — the fish

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