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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: cold · root · rush · wind · perch · hide · game · capital

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. cold — an illness
  5. root — of a plant
  6. cold — not warm
  7. wind — moving air
  8. perch — the fish
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. capital — a city
  14. root — of a word
  15. root — the cause
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. game — wild animals
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. capital — money
  20. game — a match
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. wind — moving air

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