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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: capital · row · season · kid · cold · present · track · land

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. season — of the year
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. land — to come down
  5. kid — to tease
  6. row — to paddle
  7. season — in sport
  8. cold — an illness
  9. track — a path
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. land — a country
  12. track — to keep track
  13. land — ground
  14. present — there
  15. cold — not warm
  16. kid — child
  17. capital — a city
  18. capital — money
  19. present — a gift
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. present — the time now
  23. track — a song
  24. row — a line

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