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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 116 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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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. wound — an injury
  4. shower — to wash
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. file — a document
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. wound — an injury
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. lean — to bend
  14. file — a tool
  15. file — a line of people
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. wind — moving air
  21. shower — rain
  22. mine — for digging
  23. lean — thin
  24. capital — money

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