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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: capital · tube · cold · chest · game · snap · ground · rush

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. capital — a city
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cold — an illness
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. chest — a box
  7. capital — money
  8. snap — to click
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. cold — not warm
  11. chest — of your body
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. rush — hurry
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. game — wild animals
  16. ground — a position
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. tube — a container
  19. tube — the underground
  20. ground — the earth
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. ground — crushed
  24. game — a match

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