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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.

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: fan · cold · bass · fork · rush · wound · cell · capital

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bass — low music
  4. capital — a city
  5. bass — the fish
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. capital — money
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cold — an illness
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wound — an injury
  18. cell — in biology
  19. fork — in a road
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. rush — hurry
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. wound — an injury
  24. rush — a thrill

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