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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: chip · race · capital · ball · patient · march · bat · cold

  1. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — in a computer
  2. cold — not warm
  3. ball — a great time
  4. race — the arms race
  5. capital — money
  6. capital — a city
  7. race — humankind
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. cold — an illness
  10. march — music
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. march — the month
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. chip — to eat
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bat — the animal
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. race — a contest
  20. march — the month
  21. ball — a dance
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. chip — for betting
  24. patient — a sick person

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