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

Word bank: rock · race · tear · mark · lean · capital

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. lean — to bend
  3. tear — from crying
  4. capital — a city
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. capital — money
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. tear — from crying
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. rock — a stone
  12. race — a contest
  13. mark — a grade
  14. race — humankind
  15. tear — to rip
  16. mark — a trace
  17. race — the arms race
  18. lean — thin

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