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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: cell · wind · land · wave · ball · kid · capital · wound

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. ball — a great time
  3. wound — an injury
  4. land — ground
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. wind — moving air
  8. kid — to tease
  9. land — to come down
  10. ball — a dance
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. cell — in biology
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. capital — money
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. land — a country
  20. kid — child
  21. wind — moving air
  22. capital — a city
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. capital — a big letter

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