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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: sharp · pitcher · shower · arm · spring · pitch · court · capital

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. shower — to wash
  3. pitch — completely
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. spring — a coil
  6. capital — money
  7. shower — rain
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. sharp — clever
  10. capital — a city
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. court — for sport
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. court — of a king
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. court — of law
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. spring — of water
  24. arm — part of the body

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