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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 120 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: band · tube · cap · file · shower · court · board · season

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. band — a ring
  4. band — a music group
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. season — in sport
  7. cap — of ice
  8. court — of law
  9. cap — a lid
  10. cap — a hat
  11. board — a committee
  12. shower — to wash
  13. file — a line of people
  14. season — of the year
  15. court — for sport
  16. tube — a container
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. tube — the underground
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. file — a tool
  21. file — a document
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. board — to get on

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