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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: fall · cell · game · pass · land · kid · rest · capital

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. game — a match
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. rest — what's left
  5. capital — money
  6. kid — child
  7. kid — to tease
  8. pass — to succeed
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. fall — the season
  11. fall — to drop
  12. rest — a break
  13. land — ground
  14. cell — a phone
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. game — wild animals
  17. land — a country
  18. land — to come down
  19. cell — in biology
  20. pass — a permit
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. fall — to drop
  24. rest — what's left

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