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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: wound · pop · tube · capital · club · rash · squash · pitch

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. capital — a city
  3. tube — the underground
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. squash — the sport
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — an injury
  8. rash — hasty
  9. pitch — completely
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. rash — a series
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. pop — to visit
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. squash — to crush
  16. club — a group
  17. pop — music
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. pop — soda
  20. club — for golf
  21. tube — a container
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. capital — money
  24. club — for dancing

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