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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.

Words on the sheet
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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 · tear · game · leaves · track · pitcher · wind

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. wound — an injury
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. track — a song
  7. capital — money
  8. track — a path
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. track — to keep track
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. tear — from crying
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. tear — from crying
  16. game — a match
  17. tear — to rip
  18. game — wild animals
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. wind — moving air
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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