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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: straw · wind · race · cold · band · jam · current · capital

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. capital — a city
  3. wind — moving air
  4. race — the arms race
  5. current — happening now
  6. band — a music group
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. band — a ring
  10. jam — to spread on bread
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. race — humankind
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cold — not warm
  16. jam — in traffic
  17. race — a contest
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. current — of water
  20. capital — money
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. jam — a tight spot
  23. cold — an illness
  24. current — electric

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