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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: fan · snap · capital · spring · pound · bound · staff · wind

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. pound — a weight
  4. wind — moving air
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. spring — of water
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. bound — certain
  11. snap — to click
  12. staff — a stick
  13. wind — moving air
  14. staff — employees
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. capital — money
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. spring — the season
  20. bound — obliged
  21. capital — a city
  22. spring — a coil
  23. bound — tied together
  24. pound — for dogs

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