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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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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: tube · mate · capital · chair · band · cell · row · cap

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. mate — to breed
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. cap — a lid
  6. tube — a container
  7. tube — the underground
  8. mate — a friend
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. capital — a city
  11. cap — a hat
  12. band — a music group
  13. cap — of ice
  14. row — a line
  15. mate — a partner
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. band — a ring
  18. capital — money
  19. cell — in biology
  20. row — to paddle
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. cell — a phone
  24. chair — a professorship

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