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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: staff · cold · capital · deal · cell · last

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — not warm
  4. last — finally
  5. staff — a stick
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. deal — to handle
  8. last — final
  9. cell — in biology
  10. last — to go on
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. staff — employees
  14. staff — employees
  15. capital — a city
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cell — a phone

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