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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: band · tube · hand · race · capital · content · game · rest

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. rest — what's left
  3. tube — the underground
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. race — humankind
  7. band — a music group
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. race — a contest
  10. game — a match
  11. hand — in cards
  12. hand — help
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. content — the amount
  16. race — the arms race
  17. rest — a break
  18. rest — what's left
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. content — happy
  21. game — wild animals
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. tube — a container
  24. capital — a city

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