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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: temple · capital · stick · shower · wind · squash · hand · last

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. wind — moving air
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. hand — in cards
  5. capital — a city
  6. last — final
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. last — finally
  11. squash — the sport
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. capital — money
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. squash — to crush
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. wind — moving air
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. shower — rain
  23. hand — help
  24. last — to go on

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