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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: chair · face · last · cue · sharp · capital · wind · fall

  1. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. cue — for pool
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. capital — money
  6. chair — a leader
  7. face — part of the head
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. wind — moving air
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. capital — a city
  13. last — finally
  14. cue — a signal
  15. fall — to drop
  16. face — to confront
  17. face — to point toward
  18. fall — to drop
  19. last — final
  20. last — to go on
  21. wind — moving air
  22. cue — a hint
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. fall — the season

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