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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: patient · capital · stem · file · chair · pop · game · cap

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. capital — a city
  3. game — wild animals
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. chair — a leader
  6. pop — to visit
  7. pop — soda
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. stem — to come from
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. pop — music
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. game — a match
  17. file — a line of people
  18. cap — a lid
  19. cap — a hat
  20. cap — of ice
  21. capital — money
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. file — a document
  24. game — a kind of play

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