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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: hand · staff · scale · bat · capital · fan · spell · rush

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. spell — a short time
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. hand — help
  6. capital — money
  7. staff — a stick
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. spell — magic
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. rush — hurry
  12. bat — the animal
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. capital — a city
  15. scale — size or range
  16. hand — in cards
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. staff — employees
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. spell — letters
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. staff — employees
  23. scale — in music
  24. bat — in an idiom

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