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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: rest · drill · chest · bound · hand · date · capital · present

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bound — obliged
  4. hand — in cards
  5. present — a gift
  6. rest — a break
  7. drill — a practice
  8. bound — tied together
  9. present — the time now
  10. chest — of your body
  11. rest — what's left
  12. bound — certain
  13. drill — the tool
  14. rest — what's left
  15. chest — a box
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. drill — army training
  18. hand — help
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. present — there
  22. capital — money
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. date — the fruit

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