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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: bat · cabinet · game · roll · sharp · capital · shower · march

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. game — wild animals
  3. shower — to wash
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. sharp — clever
  6. shower — rain
  7. roll — a cake
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. march — the month
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. roll — a list
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. march — music
  18. game — a match
  19. capital — a city
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. bat — the animal
  23. capital — money
  24. march — the month

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