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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: safe · last · cold · pound · snap · field · rest · capital

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. last — to go on
  3. safe — out of danger
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. safe — a strongbox
  8. rest — a break
  9. rest — what's left
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. cold — not warm
  12. field — for sport
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. field — farmland
  15. capital — money
  16. field — a subject
  17. cold — an illness
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. last — final
  20. last — finally
  21. pound — a weight
  22. capital — a city
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. rest — what's left

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