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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 120 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. That was a fun ________________.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. game — a match
  3. board — a committee
  4. cold — an illness
  5. can — a tin
  6. can — a tin
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. lean — thin
  9. wind — moving air
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. board — to get on
  12. race — a contest
  13. race — humankind
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. capital — money
  16. can — to be able to
  17. cold — not warm
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. lean — to bend
  20. game — wild animals
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. race — the arms race
  23. wind — moving air
  24. lean — to rest against

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