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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. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. capital — a city
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. band — a music group
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. band — a ring
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. wax — to grow
  9. can — a tin
  10. cold — an illness
  11. rest — what's left
  12. can — a tin
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. capital — money
  18. club — for dancing
  19. cold — not warm
  20. club — for golf
  21. can — to be able to
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. rest — a break
  24. rest — what's left

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