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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. squash — the sport
  3. squash — to crush
  4. last — finally
  5. season — of the year
  6. capital — money
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. season — in sport
  9. file — a line of people
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. last — final
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. band — a music group
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. drill — a practice
  17. file — a document
  18. band — a ring
  19. drill — army training
  20. drill — the tool
  21. capital — a city
  22. file — a tool
  23. last — to go on
  24. fan — to cool the air

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