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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: straw · mark · capital · leaves · root · wound · wind · cold

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. root — of a word
  3. root — of a plant
  4. mark — a trace
  5. wound — an injury
  6. cold — an illness
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. capital — a city
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. capital — money
  13. wind — moving air
  14. cold — not warm
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. root — the cause
  17. mark — a grade
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. wound — an injury
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. wind — moving air
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. leaves — of a tree

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