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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: pound · wind · cold · mug · coach · date · capital · wound

  1. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. Where did you ________________ them?
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. mug — a cup
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wound — an injury
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. wound — an injury
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. capital — money
  11. cold — not warm
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. date — the fruit
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. capital — a city
  16. pound — a weight
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. mug — a face
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. mug — to rob
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — moving air

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