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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: game · capital · rock · stem · snap · cold · nail · file

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. I don't want to ________________ the boat.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. cold — not warm
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. snap — to click
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. game — wild animals
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — an illness
  11. file — a line of people
  12. rock — a stone
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. game — a match
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. file — a tool
  17. rock — music
  18. capital — money
  19. stem — to come from
  20. file — a document
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. rock — to move gently

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