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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: wound · capital · file · land · cold · rash · pound · calf

  1. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. land — ground
  3. rash — a series
  4. cold — not warm
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. file — a tool
  10. land — to come down
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. capital — a city
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — an injury
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. cold — an illness
  17. rash — hasty
  18. land — a country
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. pound — a weight
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. file — a line of people
  23. calf — of the leg
  24. capital — money

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