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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: capital · pitcher · swing · shower · bat · land · fall · bulb

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. land — ground
  3. bulb — for light
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. land — a country
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. shower — to wash
  8. shower — rain
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. swing — music
  13. fall — to drop
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. swing — to play on
  16. fall — to drop
  17. bulb — for light
  18. fall — the season
  19. swing — in golf
  20. capital — a city
  21. capital — money
  22. land — to come down
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bulb — of a plant

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