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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: wound · capital · row · last · pitcher · file · pound · perch

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. row — a line
  3. capital — a city
  4. last — final
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. file — a line of people
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. wound — an injury
  9. file — a document
  10. file — a tool
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. last — to go on
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. pound — a weight
  15. capital — money
  16. wound — an injury
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. row — to paddle
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. perch — the fish
  21. last — finally
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. capital — a big letter

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