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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 120 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: capital · squash · game · fall · wave · cell · cold · fan

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. capital — a city
  3. squash — to crush
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. squash — the sport
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. capital — money
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. game — wild animals
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. game — a match
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. fall — to drop
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. fall — to drop
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cell — in biology
  22. fall — the season
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. cold — the Cold War

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