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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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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: tear · land · capital · cell · rush · present

  1. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. present — a gift
  3. rush — hurry
  4. cell — in biology
  5. land — ground
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. cell — a phone
  8. tear — from crying
  9. land — to come down
  10. capital — money
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. present — there
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. tear — to rip
  15. land — a country
  16. capital — a city
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. tear — from crying

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