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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: club · leaves · shower · bass · fan · ground · tear · capital

  1. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. capital — money
  4. shower — to wash
  5. capital — a city
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. tear — to rip
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. club — a group
  10. ground — crushed
  11. bass — the fish
  12. club — for golf
  13. club — for dancing
  14. bass — low music
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. tear — from crying
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. ground — a position
  21. ground — the earth
  22. tear — from crying
  23. shower — rain
  24. capital — a big letter

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