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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: field · temple · cap · perch · capital · bat · cell · tube

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. When was this ________________ built?
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. tube — the underground
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. cap — a hat
  5. cell — in biology
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. cap — of ice
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. bat — the animal
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. cell — a phone
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. cap — a lid
  14. field — farmland
  15. capital — money
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. perch — the fish
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. capital — a city
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. field — a subject
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. tube — a container

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