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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. capital — a city
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. capital — money
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. stem — to come from
  10. tube — a container
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. band — a ring
  13. tube — the underground
  14. wax — to grow
  15. present — there
  16. band — a music group
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. board — to get on
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. present — the time now
  22. board — a committee
  23. cold — an illness
  24. capital — a big letter

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