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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 120 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: can · branch · cold · straw · rest · chair · capital · cabinet

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. capital — money
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. chair — a leader
  7. capital — a city
  8. rest — a break
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. rest — what's left
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. rest — what's left
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. can — a tin
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. branch — a division
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. can — to be able to
  24. can — a tin

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