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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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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: band · bay · capital · chest · shower · cell · stem · mine

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. My mare is ________________ in color.
  24. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. chest — of your body
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. shower — to wash
  5. shower — rain
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. bay — to keep at bay
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cell — in biology
  10. mine — for digging
  11. chest — of your body
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. chest — a box
  14. capital — money
  15. stem — to come from
  16. band — a ring
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. capital — a city
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. cell — a phone
  23. bay — a horse colour
  24. bay — a part of the sea

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