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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: capital · lean · ground · shower · tube · roll · band · cell

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. lean — thin
  3. shower — rain
  4. ground — crushed
  5. lean — to bend
  6. ground — the earth
  7. ground — a position
  8. roll — a cake
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. capital — money
  12. roll — a list
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. cell — a phone
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. shower — to wash
  20. tube — the underground
  21. tube — a container
  22. band — a ring
  23. cell — in biology
  24. band — a music group

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