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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — moving air
  4. stock — goods
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. lie — to recline
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. kid — to tease
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. wound — an injury
  13. capital — money
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. fall — the season
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. fall — to drop
  18. fall — to drop
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. kid — child
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. wake — a trail
  24. stock — shares

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