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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: toast · capital · shower · ground · ball · kid · game · mate

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. capital — money
  3. ball — a great time
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. ball — a dance
  6. mate — a friend
  7. kid — to tease
  8. toast — the most admired
  9. ground — crushed
  10. game — a match
  11. toast — bread
  12. capital — a city
  13. ground — the earth
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. kid — child
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. mate — a partner
  19. ground — a position
  20. game — wild animals
  21. shower — rain
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. shower — to wash
  24. toast — a drink to someone

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