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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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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 · bowl · tube · cold · nail · chair · board · straw

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. capital — a city
  3. cold — not warm
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. capital — money
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. chair — a leader
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. tube — a container
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. board — to get on
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. board — a committee
  21. cold — an illness
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. tube — the underground
  24. bowl — a football final

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