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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: chest · wind · wound · straw · foot · current · capital · stand

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. foot — a measure
  3. current — of water
  4. chest — a box
  5. wound — an injury
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. foot — the bottom
  8. stand — to bear
  9. chest — of your body
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. current — happening now
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. capital — a city
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. chest — of your body
  17. wind — moving air
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. capital — money
  22. wound — an injury
  23. current — electric
  24. wind — moving air

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