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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.

Words on the sheet
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: capital · shower · fall · race · scale · spell · rash · hide

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. spell — letters
  3. rash — hasty
  4. rash — a series
  5. capital — a city
  6. race — the arms race
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. fall — to drop
  9. fall — the season
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. shower — rain
  13. capital — money
  14. spell — magic
  15. scale — size or range
  16. shower — to wash
  17. scale — in music
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. spell — a short time
  21. race — humankind
  22. fall — to drop
  23. race — a contest
  24. hide — animal skin

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