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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: file · wind · lie · present · row · capital

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. 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. present — a gift
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. row — to paddle
  4. lie — to recline
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. capital — a city
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. wind — moving air
  10. file — a tool
  11. file — a line of people
  12. row — a line
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. file — a document
  15. present — there
  16. present — the time now
  17. wind — moving air
  18. 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