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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. capital — money
  3. land — a country
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. march — the month
  6. chest — of your body
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. chest — a box
  9. march — the month
  10. chip — to eat
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. wound — an injury
  13. chip — for betting
  14. capital — a city
  15. chest — of your body
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. land — ground
  18. march — music
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. wound — an injury
  21. land — to come down
  22. kid — child
  23. band — a ring
  24. kid — to tease

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