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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: date · wind · chair · capital · key · fall

  1. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. date — the fruit
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. wind — moving air
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. key — in music
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. fall — the season
  11. fall — to drop
  12. capital — a city
  13. wind — moving air
  14. key — for a lock
  15. capital — money
  16. fall — to drop
  17. chair — a leader
  18. date — on the calendar

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