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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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Word bank
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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: capital · wind · arm · kid · cold · toast

  1. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. cold — not warm
  4. wind — moving air
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. toast — bread
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. kid — child
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. wind — moving air
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. cold — an illness
  16. capital — money
  17. kid — to tease
  18. capital — a city

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