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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: cold · plane · row · capital · tear · firm · pass · game

  1. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. tear — from crying
  4. game — a match
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. pass — a permit
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. pass — to spend time
  11. firm — steady
  12. row — a line
  13. cold — an illness
  14. capital — a city
  15. plane — a tool
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. capital — money
  18. firm — decided
  19. cold — not warm
  20. tear — to rip
  21. tear — from crying
  22. pass — to succeed
  23. game — wild animals
  24. row — to paddle

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