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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: kick · stick · file · cold · capital · band · ground · wake

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. file — a tool
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. cold — not warm
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. band — a music group
  7. wake — a trail
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. ground — crushed
  11. band — a ring
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. file — a line of people
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. capital — money
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. kick — in football
  19. file — a document
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. ground — the earth
  22. cold — an illness
  23. ground — a position
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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