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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: swing · court · band · last · capital · race · leaves · drill

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  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. last — to go on
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. last — final
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. swing — to play on
  6. swing — in golf
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. race — a contest
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. court — of a king
  11. last — finally
  12. band — a music group
  13. drill — a practice
  14. drill — the tool
  15. race — the arms race
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. drill — army training
  18. band — a ring
  19. capital — a city
  20. race — humankind
  21. court — for sport
  22. swing — music
  23. court — of law
  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