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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. current — of water
  3. kid — child
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. current — happening now
  6. roll — a cake
  7. last — to go on
  8. last — finally
  9. last — final
  10. band — a music group
  11. cap — a hat
  12. capital — a city
  13. band — a ring
  14. kid — to tease
  15. mine — for digging
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. current — electric
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. cap — a lid
  22. roll — a list
  23. cap — of ice
  24. mine — an explosive

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