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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: cold · straw · capital · cap · last · wave · bowl · season

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. last — finally
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. last — final
  6. last — to go on
  7. capital — a city
  8. cap — a hat
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. capital — money
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. season — in sport
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. cap — of ice
  21. cold — an illness
  22. season — of the year
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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