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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: rest · chest · capital · march · swing · clip · bank · last

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. swing — music
  3. rest — a break
  4. capital — money
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. last — to go on
  7. chest — of your body
  8. march — the month
  9. march — the month
  10. swing — in golf
  11. bank — of a river
  12. rest — what's left
  13. clip — a video
  14. chest — a box
  15. clip — for paper
  16. march — music
  17. bank — for money
  18. swing — to play on
  19. clip — to cut
  20. last — final
  21. rest — what's left
  22. bank — for money
  23. last — finally
  24. chest — of your body

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