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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: spring · last · pass · cold · mate · wind · lean · capital

  1. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. cold — an illness
  4. last — final
  5. mate — to breed
  6. lean — thin
  7. spring — of water
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — not warm
  10. spring — a coil
  11. spring — the season
  12. lean — to bend
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. last — finally
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. mate — a friend
  17. mate — a partner
  18. wind — moving air
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. wind — moving air
  22. last — to go on
  23. capital — money
  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