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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: chest · snap · capital · track · hand · suit · land · race

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. When will it ________________ you to start?
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. track — a path
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. suit — clothes
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. chest — a box
  7. track — to keep track
  8. land — a country
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. capital — a city
  11. race — humankind
  12. suit — in cards
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. chest — of your body
  15. race — the arms race
  16. snap — to click
  17. hand — in cards
  18. land — to come down
  19. chest — of your body
  20. land — ground
  21. suit — to fit
  22. track — a song
  23. race — a contest
  24. capital — money

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