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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: ground · game · roll · kick · bound · march · shower · capital

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. ground — crushed
  3. march — music
  4. roll — a cake
  5. game — wild animals
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. capital — money
  9. game — a match
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. capital — a city
  12. kick — in football
  13. ground — the earth
  14. roll — a list
  15. bound — certain
  16. march — the month
  17. bound — obliged
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. ground — a position
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — to wash
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. bound — tied together

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