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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: stand · wake · kid · wind · capital · face · bat · trunk

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. I can't ________________ this cold.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. wind — moving air
  3. capital — money
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. wind — moving air
  7. capital — a city
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bat — the animal
  12. wake — a trail
  13. face — part of the head
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. face — to confront
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. stand — to bear
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. face — to point toward
  23. kid — to tease
  24. wind — to turn a key

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