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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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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: bay · capital · mine · lie · land · last · perch · file

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. file — a tool
  3. capital — a city
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. land — a country
  6. perch — the fish
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. lie — to recline
  9. bay — a part of the sea
  10. capital — money
  11. land — to come down
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. last — finally
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. last — final
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. last — to go on
  21. mine — for digging
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a line of people
  24. land — ground

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