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

Word bank: fork · ball · wound · capital · rule · wind

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. rule — a law
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. capital — money
  5. ball — a dance
  6. ball — a great time
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. wound — an injury
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. capital — a city
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. wind — moving air
  17. fork — in a road
  18. rule — government

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