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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. When will it ________________ you to start?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — to fit
  2. capital — a city
  3. firm — decided
  4. firm — a company
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wound — an injury
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — money
  10. wind — moving air
  11. firm — steady
  12. cold — an illness
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. suit — clothes
  16. snap — to click
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. suit — in cards
  21. wound — an injury
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. chip — for betting
  24. chip — to eat

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