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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — money
  3. current — of water
  4. cap — a hat
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. wound — an injury
  7. race — the arms race
  8. race — a contest
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. current — happening now
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. spring — of water
  14. wax — to grow
  15. current — electric
  16. race — humankind
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. spring — the season
  20. cap — of ice
  21. cap — a lid
  22. spring — a coil
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. wound — an injury

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