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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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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: bass · capital · land · tear · mark · hand

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. bass — the fish
  4. land — to come down
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. land — a country
  7. capital — a city
  8. bass — low music
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. mark — a grade
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. tear — from crying
  13. hand — help
  14. hand — in cards
  15. mark — a trace
  16. land — ground
  17. tear — to rip
  18. capital — money

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