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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: spell · capital · cold · mate · chair · mine · firm · trunk

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. capital — money
  4. mate — a partner
  5. mate — a friend
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. firm — steady
  10. mine — for digging
  11. spell — a short time
  12. spell — magic
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — an illness
  16. firm — a company
  17. mate — to breed
  18. chair — a leader
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. spell — letters
  22. capital — a city
  23. firm — decided
  24. cold — the Cold War

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