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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: wound · craft · fall · row · straw · capital · roll · cell

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. craft — boats
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. row — a line
  7. capital — a city
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. craft — a skill
  11. roll — a list
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. fall — to drop
  15. cell — a phone
  16. fall — the season
  17. fall — to drop
  18. roll — a cake
  19. row — to paddle
  20. wound — an injury
  21. capital — money
  22. cell — in biology
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. wound — an injury

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