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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 120 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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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: capital · racket · shower · chest · present · arm · band · kid

  1. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — of your body
  4. band — a music group
  5. chest — a box
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. present — there
  10. band — a ring
  11. present — a gift
  12. present — the time now
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — child
  15. capital — money
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. shower — to wash
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. capital — a city
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. shower — rain
  24. band — a rubber band

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