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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: hand · march · trunk · race · pitcher · file · capital · spell

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. file — a tool
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. spell — letters
  5. hand — help
  6. march — the month
  7. race — the arms race
  8. spell — a short time
  9. race — a contest
  10. capital — money
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. capital — a city
  13. file — a document
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. spell — magic
  16. file — a line of people
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. march — music
  19. hand — in cards
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. march — the month
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. pitcher — a jug

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