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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: root · wind · wax · present · file · capital · clip · current

  1. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. capital — money
  3. clip — to cut
  4. root — of a plant
  5. wind — moving air
  6. capital — a city
  7. file — a tool
  8. present — the time now
  9. present — a gift
  10. wax — to grow
  11. root — of a word
  12. root — the cause
  13. file — a document
  14. present — there
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. wind — moving air
  18. clip — a video
  19. current — of water
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. current — happening now
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. file — a line of people
  24. clip — for paper

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