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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: march · kick · capital · cold · coach · dip · cap · file

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. file — a line of people
  4. kick — in football
  5. capital — money
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. march — music
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. cap — of ice
  10. cap — a lid
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. file — a tool
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. capital — a city
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. march — the month
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. cold — an illness
  21. march — the month
  22. cap — a hat
  23. file — a document
  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