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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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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: can · land · capital · bass · wax · spring · race · rash

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. bass — the fish
  3. capital — money
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. spring — a coil
  6. race — humankind
  7. can — to be able to
  8. land — to come down
  9. rash — a series
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. bass — low music
  12. rash — hasty
  13. capital — a city
  14. spring — of water
  15. wax — to grow
  16. race — the arms race
  17. spring — the season
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. can — a tin
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. land — ground
  23. can — a tin
  24. land — a country

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