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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 120 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: game · wound · net · capital · fork · bowl · field · wind

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  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. fork — a garden tool
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. net — after costs
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. fork — in a road
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. game — a match
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. field — a subject
  13. net — for catching
  14. wound — an injury
  15. capital — a city
  16. game — wild animals
  17. net — in sport
  18. field — farmland
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wind — moving air
  22. field — for sport
  23. capital — money
  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