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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: row · squash · capital · cold · wound · coach · mine · perch

  1. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. cold — not warm
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. squash — the sport
  12. row — a line
  13. mine — for digging
  14. capital — a city
  15. capital — money
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. squash — to crush
  24. perch — the fish

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