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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 116 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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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: capital · perch · spell · kid · racket · tear · pitcher · rest

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. kid — child
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. rest — what's left
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. tear — to rip
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. spell — magic
  10. tear — from crying
  11. spell — a short time
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. spell — letters
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. rest — what's left
  17. capital — money
  18. capital — a city
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. rest — a break
  21. tear — from crying
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. perch — the fish

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