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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: tear · lash · capital · present · scale · cold · cap · rash

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. present — the time now
  5. rash — a series
  6. cap — a lid
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. cold — not warm
  9. scale — size or range
  10. cold — an illness
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. cap — of ice
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. tear — from crying
  15. capital — a city
  16. tear — from crying
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. rash — hasty
  19. tear — to rip
  20. present — there
  21. scale — in music
  22. capital — money
  23. cap — a hat
  24. lash — to lash out

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