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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 120 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 didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. wake — a trail
  4. scale — in music
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. rash — hasty
  7. cold — an illness
  8. prune — to trim
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. scale — size or range
  11. capital — money
  12. rash — a series
  13. wind — moving air
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. cold — not warm
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. capital — a city
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. prune — to trim
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. wake — before a funeral

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