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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: foot · mine · net · capital · tube · cold · march · band

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. march — music
  3. net — in sport
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. net — after costs
  6. band — a ring
  7. capital — a city
  8. cold — an illness
  9. net — for catching
  10. tube — the underground
  11. tube — a container
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. march — the month
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. march — the month
  17. capital — money
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. band — a music group
  22. mine — for digging
  23. foot — a measure
  24. capital — a big letter

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