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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: fork · swing · wave · tear · capital · firm · cold · cell

  1. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. cold — not warm
  3. swing — to play on
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. tear — from crying
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. fork — in a road
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. swing — music
  10. capital — a city
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. firm — a company
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. cell — in biology
  16. cell — a phone
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. tear — from crying
  20. capital — money
  21. cold — an illness
  22. tear — to rip
  23. swing — in golf
  24. firm — decided

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