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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: coach · capital · wave · degree · straw · wound · rest · last

  1. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. degree — an amount
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. rest — a break
  7. capital — money
  8. wound — an injury
  9. last — to go on
  10. degree — temperature
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. degree — from a university
  14. rest — what's left
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. last — finally
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. capital — a city
  21. rest — what's left
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. wound — an injury
  24. last — final

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