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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.

Words on the sheet
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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: fan · coach · capital · cold · band · fine

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. band — a music group
  4. band — a ring
  5. fine — all right
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. cold — not warm
  8. capital — money
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. fine — high quality
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. cold — an illness
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. coach — a trainer

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