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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: hand · root · bowl · wind · capital · spell · snap · kid

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. root — of a plant
  3. root — the cause
  4. snap — to click
  5. kid — child
  6. spell — magic
  7. hand — in cards
  8. capital — money
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. root — of a word
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. wind — moving air
  16. spell — letters
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. spell — a short time
  20. wind — moving air
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. capital — a city
  24. kid — to tease

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