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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: wind · scale · trunk · mate · pound · capital · season · cold

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. scale — size or range
  3. season — of the year
  4. mate — a partner
  5. mate — to breed
  6. cold — not warm
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. scale — in music
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. cold — an illness
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. mate — a friend
  15. season — in sport
  16. capital — money
  17. capital — a city
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wind — moving air
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. wind — moving air
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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