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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: wind · roll · straw · capital · rest · chest · mate · perch

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. rest — a break
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. capital — a city
  8. perch — the fish
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. wind — moving air
  11. roll — a cake
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. capital — money
  15. mate — a partner
  16. rest — what's left
  17. mate — a friend
  18. rest — what's left
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. roll — a list
  21. chest — a box
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. mate — to breed

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