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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: wind · chest · straw · sharp · capital · board · date · tear

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. board — to get on
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. tear — to rip
  5. tear — from crying
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. chest — of your body
  8. board — a committee
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. chest — of your body
  15. date — the fruit
  16. sharp — clever
  17. capital — a city
  18. tear — from crying
  19. wind — moving air
  20. chest — a box
  21. wind — moving air
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. straw — dry grass

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