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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: game · swing · capital · shower · date · bark · kid · lie

  1. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — an untruth
  2. game — wild animals
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. capital — money
  5. shower — rain
  6. date — the fruit
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. kid — to tease
  9. swing — to play on
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. swing — in golf
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. kid — child
  16. game — a match
  17. swing — music
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. capital — a city
  22. shower — to wash
  23. bark — to shout
  24. lie — to recline

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