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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 116 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: rash · shower · capital · cap · game · scale · bass · mine

  1. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. shower — to wash
  3. rash — hasty
  4. cap — a hat
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. bass — low music
  7. scale — size or range
  8. bass — the fish
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. shower — rain
  11. mine — for digging
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. game — a match
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. game — wild animals
  18. capital — a city
  19. scale — in music
  20. rash — a series
  21. capital — money
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. cap — a lid
  24. cap — of ice

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