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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: cue · chest · toast · drill · capital · field · object · wind

  1. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. capital — money
  3. cue — a signal
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — moving air
  6. toast — bread
  7. object — a thing
  8. object — to protest
  9. field — farmland
  10. drill — a practice
  11. chest — a box
  12. drill — the tool
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. capital — a city
  15. drill — army training
  16. cue — a hint
  17. object — an aim
  18. cue — for pool
  19. chest — of your body
  20. field — for sport
  21. field — a subject
  22. chest — of your body
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. toast — the most admired

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