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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: cold · swing · stock · hide · wound · row · fall · capital

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — money
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. fall — the season
  6. fall — to drop
  7. stock — shares
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. fall — to drop
  12. stock — goods
  13. row — to paddle
  14. swing — in golf
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. wound — an injury
  17. cold — an illness
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. swing — music
  20. row — a line
  21. cold — not warm
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. swing — to play 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