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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: date · bowl · craft · present · capital · cold

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. capital — a city
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. present — a gift
  8. date — the fruit
  9. capital — money
  10. craft — a skill
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. present — the time now
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. craft — boats
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. cold — not warm
  18. present — there

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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