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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: bass · swing · stand · wind · kid · cold · capital · bear

  1. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — on your feet
  2. swing — to play on
  3. bear — the animal
  4. bear — the animal
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bass — low music
  7. capital — money
  8. capital — a city
  9. cold — an illness
  10. stand — to bear
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. kid — to tease
  15. swing — music
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. wind — moving air
  18. bass — the fish
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. swing — in golf
  21. cold — not warm
  22. kid — child
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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