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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: capital · bound · rock · cell · game · cold

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. bound — obliged
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. bound — tied together
  5. rock — a stone
  6. capital — a city
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. cell — a phone
  9. capital — money
  10. cold — not warm
  11. game — wild animals
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. cold — an illness
  16. game — a match
  17. bound — certain
  18. cell — in biology

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