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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: bat · land · capital · pound · wake · dip · court · shower

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. court — for sport
  4. land — a country
  5. court — of law
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bat — the animal
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. dip — to sink
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. capital — a city
  13. wake — a trail
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. shower — rain
  16. pound — a weight
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. land — ground
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. court — of a king
  23. capital — money
  24. land — to come down

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