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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wind — moving air
  4. capital — a city
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. wound — an injury
  10. capital — money
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. wind — moving air
  13. hand — help
  14. cell — a phone
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. cell — in biology
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. row — a line
  22. row — to paddle
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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