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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: shower · pit · rush · capital · pop · pitch · game · row

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. game — wild animals
  3. capital — a city
  4. pop — music
  5. pit — a hole
  6. rush — hurry
  7. pitch — completely
  8. shower — rain
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. row — a line
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. pop — soda
  17. row — to paddle
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. game — a match
  20. pop — to visit
  21. shower — to wash
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. pit — in a race
  24. pitch — a sports field

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