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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: capital · deal · shower · cap · field · perch · last · cell

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. cap — a lid
  4. field — farmland
  5. cap — of ice
  6. field — a subject
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. deal — to handle
  9. shower — to wash
  10. last — final
  11. perch — the fish
  12. shower — rain
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. capital — money
  16. cell — in biology
  17. cap — a hat
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. capital — a city
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. cell — a phone
  22. last — finally
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. last — to go on

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