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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: fan · mouse · roll · pitch · fall · capital · row · hand

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. hand — in cards
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. pitch — completely
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. row — a line
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. row — to paddle
  15. roll — a list
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. roll — a cake
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. fall — to drop
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. capital — money
  23. fall — the season
  24. hand — help

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