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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. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. The tickets are free of ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. branch — a division
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. file — a document
  5. band — a ring
  6. capital — a city
  7. plane — a tool
  8. charge — electricity
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. charge — a price
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. chest — of your body
  13. capital — money
  14. bat — the animal
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. file — a line of people
  17. band — a music group
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. charge — in control
  22. file — a tool
  23. chest — of your body
  24. chest — a box

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