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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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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: pitcher · sharp · hand · rule · file · spring · capital · bass

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. capital — a city
  5. bass — low music
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. spring — a coil
  9. file — a line of people
  10. capital — money
  11. file — a tool
  12. spring — the season
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. spring — of water
  15. sharp — clever
  16. hand — help
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. bass — the fish
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. file — a document
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. hand — in cards
  23. rule — a law
  24. rule — government

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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