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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: cold · capital · bay · scale · shower · pitcher · trunk · kid

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. shower — rain
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. capital — money
  8. scale — in music
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. scale — size or range
  11. capital — a city
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. cold — an illness
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. bay — to keep at bay
  17. shower — to wash
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. kid — to tease
  20. cold — not warm
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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