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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: race · coach · snap · file · kick · capital

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. snap — to click
  3. race — humankind
  4. file — a document
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. file — a tool
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. kick — in football
  11. capital — money
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. race — the arms race
  14. race — a contest
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. capital — a city
  18. file — a line of people

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