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

Word bank: staff · cold · capital · stand · chest · wind

  1. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  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. stand — on your feet
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. chest — a box
  4. staff — a stick
  5. stand — for spectators
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. capital — money
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. capital — a city
  10. wind — moving air
  11. chest — of your body
  12. staff — employees
  13. cold — not warm
  14. staff — employees
  15. cold — an illness
  16. stand — to bear
  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