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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. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — decided
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wound — an injury
  5. firm — steady
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. wind — moving air
  8. craft — a skill
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. capital — money
  11. firm — a company
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. wound — an injury
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. capital — a city
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. cold — not warm
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. craft — boats
  24. bark — to shout

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