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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: clip · temple · arm · capital · race · last · spell · wind

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. race — the arms race
  3. capital — money
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. clip — a video
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. clip — for paper
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. race — a contest
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. race — humankind
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. last — to go on
  15. last — finally
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. spell — a short time
  18. wind — moving air
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. wind — moving air
  21. clip — to cut
  22. spell — magic
  23. capital — a city
  24. spell — letters

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