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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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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: bowl · stand · sharp · capital · saw · race · straw · file

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. race — the arms race
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. sharp — clever
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. capital — money
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. file — a tool
  11. race — humankind
  12. stand — to bear
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. file — a line of people
  17. race — a contest
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. saw — the tool
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. saw — the tool
  22. file — a document
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. capital — a city

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