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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. capital — a city
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. capital — money
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. rest — a break
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. pitch — completely
  11. wind — moving air
  12. track — a path
  13. cold — an illness
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. cold — not warm
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. wind — moving air
  18. track — to keep track
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. track — a song
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. rest — what's left
  23. mine — for digging
  24. rest — what's left

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