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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: hide · capital · cell · club · shower · branch · season · mark

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. club — for dancing
  3. season — of the year
  4. shower — to wash
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. cell — a phone
  9. club — for golf
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. cell — in biology
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. mark — a trace
  15. season — in sport
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. branch — a division
  19. club — a group
  20. mark — a grade
  21. capital — money
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. shower — rain

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