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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. chest — of your body
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. band — a ring
  5. cap — a lid
  6. capital — a city
  7. season — of the year
  8. march — the month
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. band — a music group
  11. chest — of your body
  12. capital — money
  13. cap — of ice
  14. march — music
  15. race — a contest
  16. cap — a hat
  17. bat — the animal
  18. chest — a box
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. march — the month
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. race — the arms race
  23. season — in sport
  24. season — to add flavour

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