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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 120 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: mine · rest · capital · present · board · cell · temple · land

  1. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. board — to get on
  2. land — a country
  3. land — to come down
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. capital — a city
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. land — ground
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. cell — a phone
  11. mine — for digging
  12. rest — what's left
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. rest — what's left
  15. present — a gift
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. capital — money
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. rest — a break
  20. present — there
  21. cell — in biology
  22. board — a committee
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. present — the time now

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