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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: perch · capital · track · scale · cold · racket · row · tube

  1. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. scale — in music
  5. cold — not warm
  6. track — a song
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. perch — the fish
  9. row — to paddle
  10. scale — size or range
  11. capital — money
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. tube — a container
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. tube — the underground
  18. row — a line
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. track — a path
  21. capital — a city
  22. track — to keep track
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. scale — for weighing

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