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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 · key · land · board · craft · wake · spring · chest

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. chest — of your body
  4. key — for a lock
  5. land — ground
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. board — a committee
  8. key — the most important part
  9. craft — boats
  10. land — a country
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. key — in music
  13. spring — a coil
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. capital — money
  16. land — to come down
  17. chest — of your body
  18. wake — a trail
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. board — to get on
  21. chest — a box
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — of water
  24. craft — a skill

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