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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: wound · mine · shower · capital · root · pit · race · row

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. row — a line
  3. race — humankind
  4. pit — in a race
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. pit — a hole
  7. wound — an injury
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. shower — rain
  10. root — of a word
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. race — the arms race
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. shower — to wash
  18. wound — an injury
  19. mine — for digging
  20. root — of a plant
  21. root — the cause
  22. race — a contest
  23. row — to paddle
  24. capital — a city

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