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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: wind · roll · straw · capital · rest · chest

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. chest — of your body
  3. wind — moving air
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wind — moving air
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. roll — a list
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. rest — a break
  10. capital — a city
  11. rest — what's left
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. roll — a cake
  15. capital — money
  16. rest — what's left
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. chest — a box

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