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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 120 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: ball · wind · leaves · shower · tube · root · capital · kid

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. capital — a city
  3. root — of a word
  4. ball — a great time
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. wind — moving air
  7. tube — the underground
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. kid — to tease
  11. root — the cause
  12. capital — money
  13. shower — to wash
  14. root — of a plant
  15. wind — moving air
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. ball — a dance
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. kid — child
  20. tube — a container
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. ball — a round shape

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