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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. capital — a city
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. current — of water
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. current — happening now
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — not warm
  16. last — to go on
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. bowl — a dish
  19. capital — money
  20. current — electric
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. cold — an illness
  23. last — finally
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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