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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: capital · tube · field · staff · mine · object · clip · wound

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. object — an aim
  3. clip — to cut
  4. staff — employees
  5. staff — a stick
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. object — a thing
  8. wound — an injury
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. capital — a city
  11. staff — employees
  12. mine — for digging
  13. tube — the underground
  14. tube — a container
  15. wound — an injury
  16. clip — for paper
  17. clip — a video
  18. field — a subject
  19. object — to protest
  20. capital — money
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. field — farmland
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. field — for sport

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