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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 120 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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  7. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  20. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. capital — a city
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. mine — for digging
  6. bank — for money
  7. bank — for money
  8. capital — money
  9. cold — an illness
  10. firm — steady
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. firm — decided
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. stand — to bear
  18. bat — the animal
  19. bank — of a river
  20. firm — a company
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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