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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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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: pound · capital · cold · date · pitch · spell · band · last

  1. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. last — to go on
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. pound — a weight
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. last — finally
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — money
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. cold — an illness
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. capital — a city
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. spell — magic
  17. pitch — completely
  18. spell — letters
  19. cold — not warm
  20. band — a ring
  21. spell — a short time
  22. last — final
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. band — a music group

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