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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: board · kick · field · kid · capital · spring · wind · fall

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. kid — to tease
  3. spring — the season
  4. wind — moving air
  5. field — for sport
  6. capital — money
  7. field — a subject
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. kid — child
  13. fall — the season
  14. field — farmland
  15. kick — in football
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. board — to get on
  18. fall — to drop
  19. capital — a city
  20. spring — a coil
  21. fall — to drop
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. spring — of water
  24. board — a committee

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