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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. pop — to visit
  3. game — a match
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. branch — a division
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. pop — soda
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. cold — not warm
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. cold — an illness
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. capital — money
  14. wind — moving air
  15. capital — a city
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. wind — moving air
  19. craft — boats
  20. craft — a skill
  21. wake — a trail
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. game — wild animals

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