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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 · cold · spell · firm · capital · temple · pitch · stock

  1. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. spell — magic
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. firm — steady
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. cold — not warm
  7. capital — money
  8. spell — a short time
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. stock — shares
  11. shower — to wash
  12. stock — goods
  13. firm — a company
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. firm — decided
  17. spell — letters
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. shower — rain
  20. cold — an illness
  21. capital — a city
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pitch — completely
  24. stock — a soup base

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