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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: chest · swing · wind · ground · wake · capital

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. ground — crushed
  5. swing — music
  6. capital — money
  7. wake — a trail
  8. ground — the earth
  9. chest — a box
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. swing — to play on
  12. chest — of your body
  13. capital — a city
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. wind — moving air
  16. swing — in golf
  17. wind — moving air
  18. chest — of your body

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