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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: kid · cap · craft · row · capital · pass

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. pass — a permit
  3. capital — money
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. craft — a skill
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. kid — to tease
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. cap — of ice
  13. kid — child
  14. row — to paddle
  15. cap — a hat
  16. cap — a lid
  17. row — a line
  18. craft — boats

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