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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 116 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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. band — a ring
  3. cap — of ice
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. bore — to tire
  7. swing — in golf
  8. cap — a hat
  9. tube — a container
  10. game — wild animals
  11. tube — the underground
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. row — a line
  15. bore — to drill
  16. capital — money
  17. row — to paddle
  18. game — a match
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. band — a music group
  21. cap — a lid
  22. swing — to play on
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. swing — music

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