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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: stem · kid · fork · capital · bat · vault · pitch · band

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. stem — to come from
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. band — a music group
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. fork — in a road
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. capital — money
  12. pitch — completely
  13. kid — to tease
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. kid — child
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. bat — the animal
  18. vault — a safe
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. vault — an arched ceiling
  24. band — a ring

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