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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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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. last — finally
  3. spell — a short time
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. wind — moving air
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. spell — magic
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. bear — the animal
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. spell — letters
  17. last — to go on
  18. bear — the animal
  19. last — final
  20. capital — money
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. bat — the animal
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. bear — to put up with

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