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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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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: game · firm · shower · spell · court · capital · drill · face

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. drill — army training
  3. game — wild animals
  4. court — for sport
  5. capital — a city
  6. spell — letters
  7. shower — to wash
  8. spell — a short time
  9. face — part of the head
  10. face — to point toward
  11. firm — a company
  12. capital — money
  13. drill — the tool
  14. court — of law
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. firm — decided
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. face — to confront
  19. shower — rain
  20. game — a match
  21. firm — steady
  22. spell — magic
  23. court — of a king
  24. drill — a practice

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