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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: chair · suit · arm · wake · capital · fork · cold · branch

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  13. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. When will it ________________ you to start?
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. cold — an illness
  4. chair — a leader
  5. wake — a trail
  6. fork — in a road
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. suit — clothes
  13. suit — in cards
  14. cold — not warm
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. branch — a division
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. suit — to fit
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. capital — money

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