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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: patient · tube · hand · chest · capital · wake · cabinet · march

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. capital — money
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. chest — a box
  5. cabinet — a cupboard
  6. tube — a container
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. march — the month
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. wake — a trail
  12. chest — of your body
  13. tube — the underground
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. hand — help
  19. chest — of your body
  20. march — music
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. capital — a city
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. hand — in cards

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