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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 116 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 · game · cell · cold · firm · capital

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. firm — decided
  3. capital — money
  4. firm — a company
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. game — wild animals
  8. wind — moving air
  9. capital — a city
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. firm — steady
  12. cell — in biology
  13. wind — moving air
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. game — a match
  17. cold — an illness
  18. game — a kind of play

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