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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: current · capital · shower · band · spring · date · court · pop

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. court — for sport
  4. spring — the season
  5. shower — to wash
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. date — the fruit
  8. pop — to visit
  9. shower — rain
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. court — of a king
  13. spring — a coil
  14. spring — of water
  15. pop — soda
  16. capital — a city
  17. band — a music group
  18. current — happening now
  19. current — of water
  20. current — electric
  21. pop — music
  22. band — a ring
  23. court — of law
  24. date — on the calendar

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