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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: rest · calf · capital · game · wind · race · clip · hand

  1. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  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. calf — a young animal
  2. hand — help
  3. game — wild animals
  4. clip — to cut
  5. rest — what's left
  6. race — the arms race
  7. rest — a break
  8. race — humankind
  9. capital — a city
  10. clip — for paper
  11. race — a contest
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. wind — moving air
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. clip — a video
  16. wind — moving air
  17. game — a match
  18. hand — in cards
  19. rest — what's left
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. capital — money
  23. calf — of the leg
  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