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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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468
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: sharp · shower · pitcher · kid · chest · tube · capital · bank

  1. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. capital — a city
  4. kid — to tease
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. tube — a container
  7. bank — of a river
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. tube — the underground
  12. bank — for money
  13. shower — to wash
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. kid — child
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. chest — a box
  18. chest — of your body
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. chest — of your body
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. shower — rain
  23. capital — money
  24. bank — for money

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