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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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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: capital · ball · rule · wave · pop · mine · land · bat

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. pop — soda
  3. land — to come down
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. land — a country
  6. rule — government
  7. capital — a city
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. pop — to visit
  13. rule — a law
  14. ball — a great time
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. ball — a dance
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. land — ground
  20. mine — for digging
  21. bat — the animal
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. capital — money
  24. bat — for baseball

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