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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · content · march · rest · mate · capital · row · fan

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. row — to paddle
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. mate — a friend
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. march — music
  8. capital — a city
  9. content — happy
  10. mate — a partner
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. march — the month
  13. rest — a break
  14. rest — what's left
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. content — the amount
  18. capital — money
  19. row — a line
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. rest — what's left
  22. march — the month
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. fan — a supporter

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