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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: rash · face · fan · band · jam · row · branch · capital

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. face — part of the head
  4. jam — in traffic
  5. row — to paddle
  6. capital — a city
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. band — a music group
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. branch — a division
  11. row — a line
  12. band — a ring
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. rash — hasty
  15. face — to confront
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. jam — to spread on bread
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. face — to point toward
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. rash — a series

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