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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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Word bank
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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: wind · last · capital · scale · swing · pitcher · spring · sharp

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. spring — of water
  5. spring — a coil
  6. last — final
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. wind — moving air
  9. spring — the season
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. last — finally
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. capital — money
  14. swing — music
  15. wind — moving air
  16. swing — to play on
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. sharp — clever
  19. swing — in golf
  20. scale — size or range
  21. capital — a city
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. scale — in music

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