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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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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: kid · pop · capital · band · patient · perch · mouse · hand

  1. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. pop — music
  3. capital — money
  4. hand — help
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. band — a music group
  8. mouse — for a computer
  9. capital — a city
  10. kid — child
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. band — a ring
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. pop — soda
  18. kid — to tease
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. perch — the fish
  24. pop — to visit

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