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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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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: arm · band · last · clip · calf · race · capital · roll

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. roll — a list
  4. capital — money
  5. last — final
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. clip — to cut
  8. capital — a city
  9. race — a contest
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. race — the arms race
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. last — to go on
  16. roll — a cake
  17. last — finally
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. clip — for paper
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. band — a ring
  22. clip — a video
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. race — humankind

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