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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: capital · bear · cold · wind · craft · pop · snap · net

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. capital — a city
  3. snap — to click
  4. bear — the animal
  5. cold — an illness
  6. craft — boats
  7. pop — to visit
  8. net — after costs
  9. cold — not warm
  10. pop — soda
  11. capital — money
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. net — for catching
  14. bear — the animal
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. wind — moving air
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. pop — music
  23. net — in sport
  24. craft — a skill

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