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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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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: kick · fork · mine · file · capital · kid

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. file — a document
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. capital — a city
  5. file — a tool
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. kid — to tease
  9. kid — child
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. mine — for digging
  12. capital — money
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. file — a line of people
  15. fork — in a road
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. kick — in football

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