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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: file · hand · perch · capital · chair · shower · date · spell

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. capital — money
  3. shower — to wash
  4. spell — a short time
  5. capital — a city
  6. spell — magic
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. spell — letters
  10. hand — help
  11. shower — rain
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. file — a tool
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. date — the fruit
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. file — a line of people
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. file — a document
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. perch — the fish

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