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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: rash · wave · spring · clip · wound · fall · hand · capital

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. hand — help
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. fall — to drop
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — the season
  7. wave — of the sea
  8. capital — a city
  9. rash — hasty
  10. spring — a coil
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. rash — a series
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — money
  16. clip — to cut
  17. spring — the season
  18. wound — an injury
  19. hand — in cards
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — a video
  23. wound — an injury
  24. rash — on the skin

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