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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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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: lie · capital · wind · land · board · hand · kid · race

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. 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. land — ground
  2. hand — help
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. kid — to tease
  6. wind — moving air
  7. race — the arms race
  8. board — a committee
  9. land — a country
  10. hand — in cards
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. lie — to recline
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. land — to come down
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. race — humankind
  17. race — a contest
  18. wind — moving air
  19. capital — a city
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. kid — child
  23. board — to get on
  24. 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