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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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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: capital · cell · racket · cold · lash · kid · shower · object

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. object — an aim
  3. object — to protest
  4. shower — to wash
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. capital — a city
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cold — an illness
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. cell — in biology
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. cell — a phone
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. kid — child
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. shower — rain
  22. object — a thing
  23. kid — to tease
  24. capital — money

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