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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: row · wind · deal · board · clip · field · capital · lie

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. field — for sport
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. board — a committee
  7. row — a line
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. field — a subject
  10. clip — a video
  11. wind — moving air
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. row — to paddle
  14. deal — to handle
  15. clip — to cut
  16. field — farmland
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. lie — to recline
  21. clip — for paper
  22. board — to get on
  23. capital — a city
  24. wind — moving air

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