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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: march · cap · lash · capital · band · bulb · straw · club

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. bulb — for light
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. capital — money
  8. march — music
  9. club — a group
  10. march — the month
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. cap — a hat
  13. cap — of ice
  14. club — for dancing
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. band — a music group
  17. march — the month
  18. capital — a city
  19. bulb — for light
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. cap — a lid
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. club — for golf

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