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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: cold · chip · cue · leaves · capital · last · wound · shower

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. shower — to wash
  3. last — finally
  4. chip — to eat
  5. capital — money
  6. cue — a hint
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. cold — not warm
  9. capital — a city
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. cue — for pool
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. cue — a signal
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. chip — for betting
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wound — an injury
  21. last — final
  22. shower — rain
  23. cold — an illness
  24. wound — an injury

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