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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: plane · file · capital · club · track · wake · hand · racket

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. capital — money
  4. track — a path
  5. club — for golf
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. hand — in cards
  9. wake — a trail
  10. hand — help
  11. file — a document
  12. file — a line of people
  13. track — a song
  14. plane — a tool
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. file — a tool
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. track — to keep track
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. club — for dancing
  22. club — a group
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. plane — in geometry

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