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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. capital — a city
  3. track — a path
  4. track — a song
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. shower — to wash
  9. date — the fruit
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. shower — rain
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. pit — in a race
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. band — a ring
  16. track — to keep track
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. season — in sport
  19. pit — a hole
  20. season — of the year
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. capital — money
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. mine — for digging

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