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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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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: clip · pitcher · track · band · date · capital · row · wave

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. band — a ring
  3. clip — for paper
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. track — to keep track
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. clip — a video
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. date — the fruit
  12. capital — a city
  13. track — a song
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. band — a music group
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. capital — money
  18. clip — to cut
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. row — a line
  22. track — a path
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. row — to paddle

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