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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: bore · mine · bass · patient · rock · capital · land · cap

  1. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. rock — music
  3. land — to come down
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. bass — the fish
  7. capital — a city
  8. land — ground
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. cap — a lid
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. bore — to drill
  14. cap — of ice
  15. mine — for digging
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. bore — to tire
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. bass — low music
  21. land — a country
  22. rock — a stone
  23. cap — a hat
  24. capital — money

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