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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: hand · capital · fork · stem · fine · wind · land · foot

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. land — a country
  3. fine — high quality
  4. fine — all right
  5. foot — part of the body
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. stem — to come from
  10. foot — a measure
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. capital — a city
  15. capital — money
  16. wind — moving air
  17. land — ground
  18. fork — in a road
  19. wind — moving air
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. land — to come down
  23. hand — in cards
  24. wind — to turn a key

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