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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. capital — a city
  3. shower — to wash
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. file — a line of people
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. rash — a series
  10. wind — moving air
  11. perch — the fish
  12. spell — a short time
  13. capital — money
  14. spell — letters
  15. shower — rain
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. file — a document
  18. spell — magic
  19. kick — in football
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. file — a tool
  23. rash — hasty
  24. perch — for a bird

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