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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: suit · bark · straw · rush · capital · row · cold · date

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. When will it ________________ you to start?
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. suit — in cards
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. suit — clothes
  7. cold — not warm
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. suit — to fit
  10. capital — a city
  11. row — a line
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. date — the fruit
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. capital — money
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. bark — to shout
  20. rush — hurry
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. row — to paddle
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — an illness

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