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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: bat · capital · cold · jam · rest · patient · toast · wake

  1. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. toast — bread
  4. jam — in traffic
  5. wake — a trail
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. capital — a city
  9. cold — not warm
  10. rest — what's left
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. toast — the most admired
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. capital — money
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. rest — what's left
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. jam — to spread on bread
  20. cold — an illness
  21. rest — a break
  22. bat — the animal
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. cold — the Cold War

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