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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: wind · race · present · mark · band · game · capital · wax

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. race — a contest
  3. capital — a city
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. wax — to grow
  8. mark — a trace
  9. capital — money
  10. race — humankind
  11. game — a match
  12. race — the arms race
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. band — a music group
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. present — the time now
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. band — a ring
  19. mark — a grade
  20. game — wild animals
  21. present — a gift
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — moving air
  24. present — there

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