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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 120 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: mug · rest · capital · arm · tear · cold · spell · chest

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. Where did you ________________ them?
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. chest — of your body
  3. spell — a short time
  4. capital — a city
  5. mug — a face
  6. rest — a break
  7. chest — a box
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. tear — from crying
  10. mug — a cup
  11. mug — to rob
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. spell — magic
  15. rest — what's left
  16. spell — letters
  17. cold — an illness
  18. rest — what's left
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. tear — from crying
  22. capital — money
  23. cold — not warm
  24. chest — of your body

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