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

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. wound — an injury
  3. capital — money
  4. bound — tied together
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — to cut
  10. capital — a city
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — moving air
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. bound — obliged
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. wound — an injury
  21. bound — certain
  22. foot — a measure
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. wind — to turn a key

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