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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: branch · chest · present · game · band · capital · cap · temple

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. chest — a box
  4. cap — a hat
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. cap — a lid
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. game — a match
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. chest — of your body
  11. present — the time now
  12. cap — of ice
  13. chest — of your body
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. present — a gift
  17. capital — money
  18. band — a ring
  19. capital — a city
  20. present — there
  21. branch — a division
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. game — wild animals
  24. branch — of a tree

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