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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: kid · arm · capital · cap · wound · tube · rash · pass

  1. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. kid — to tease
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. kid — child
  6. cap — a lid
  7. pass — to succeed
  8. wound — an injury
  9. rash — hasty
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. tube — the underground
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. cap — of ice
  14. capital — money
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. cap — a hat
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. rash — a series
  19. capital — a city
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. wound — an injury
  22. tube — a container
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. tube — in a tire

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