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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. capital — a city
  3. cue — for pool
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. cue — a signal
  8. last — to go on
  9. last — final
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. cold — an illness
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. branch — a division
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. last — finally
  16. cue — a hint
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. kick — in football
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. capital — money
  22. perch — the fish
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. perch — for a bird

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