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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: spell · rest · mouse · firm · club · file · cold · capital

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  16. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. club — for golf
  3. capital — money
  4. file — a line of people
  5. rest — what's left
  6. club — for dancing
  7. cold — an illness
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — a city
  10. cold — not warm
  11. spell — magic
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. firm — decided
  14. rest — a break
  15. firm — steady
  16. firm — a company
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. file — a document
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. file — a tool
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. club — a group
  23. spell — a short time
  24. rest — what's left

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