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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 120 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: capital · band · game · mine · fan · squash · rash · dip

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. band — a music group
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. rash — hasty
  5. game — wild animals
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. game — a match
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. squash — the sport
  13. mine — for digging
  14. rash — a series
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. capital — a city
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. capital — money
  19. squash — to crush
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. dip — to sink

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