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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: rest · fall · wound · straw · wind · wake · sharp · capital

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wind — moving air
  7. rest — what's left
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. rest — a break
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. fall — the season
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. sharp — clever
  15. wind — moving air
  16. wake — a trail
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. fall — to drop
  19. rest — what's left
  20. capital — money
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. wound — an injury
  24. fall — to drop

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