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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: patient · cap · fork · race · capital · land

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. cap — a lid
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. race — the arms race
  6. cap — of ice
  7. race — humankind
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. land — ground
  10. race — a contest
  11. land — a country
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. capital — money
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. capital — a city
  16. land — to come down
  17. fork — in a road
  18. patient — a sick person

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