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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: capital · club · bank · straw · kid · race

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. bank — for money
  3. club — for golf
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. bank — for money
  6. club — a group
  7. capital — money
  8. race — humankind
  9. bank — of a river
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. kid — to tease
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. kid — child
  15. race — a contest
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. race — the arms race
  18. club — for dancing

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