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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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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: capital · bass · fan · face · straw · pass · cold · swing

  1. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. capital — a city
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bass — low music
  6. swing — music
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. bass — the fish
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. face — to point toward
  12. swing — in golf
  13. face — to confront
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. capital — money
  17. face — part of the head
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. swing — to play on
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. pass — to spend time

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