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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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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: snap · capital · cap · race · mate · court · bore · shower

  1. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. court — for sport
  3. shower — to wash
  4. cap — of ice
  5. race — the arms race
  6. capital — a city
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. mate — to breed
  9. court — of law
  10. bore — to drill
  11. bore — to tire
  12. race — a contest
  13. cap — a hat
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. mate — a partner
  16. capital — money
  17. cap — a lid
  18. mate — a friend
  19. snap — to click
  20. court — of a king
  21. race — humankind
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. shower — rain
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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