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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: straw · mate · root · capital · ground · wake · fall · wound

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. wound — an injury
  3. ground — crushed
  4. root — of a plant
  5. fall — to drop
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. mate — a friend
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. mate — to breed
  11. root — of a word
  12. wake — a trail
  13. wound — an injury
  14. ground — the earth
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. fall — to drop
  19. fall — the season
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. mate — a partner
  22. root — the cause
  23. ground — a position
  24. capital — money

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