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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 · race · fall · spell · capital · trunk · clip · wound

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. race — humankind
  4. spell — letters
  5. spell — a short time
  6. spell — magic
  7. capital — money
  8. race — the arms race
  9. clip — to cut
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. clip — a video
  12. race — a contest
  13. capital — a city
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. fall — to drop
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. clip — for paper
  19. wound — an injury
  20. fall — to drop
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. fall — the season
  23. fork — in a road
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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