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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 · jam · game · wake · cap · tube · march · spring

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. tube — a container
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. march — the month
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. tube — the underground
  7. march — the month
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. spring — a coil
  10. game — wild animals
  11. march — music
  12. capital — a city
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. capital — money
  15. wake — a trail
  16. spring — of water
  17. spring — the season
  18. game — a match
  19. cap — a hat
  20. jam — to spread on bread
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. cap — of ice
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. wake — before a funeral

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