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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: plane · row · capital · game · saw · chair · wind · clip

  1. He works in a ________________ mill.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. clip — to cut
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. chair — a leader
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. row — to paddle
  8. wind — moving air
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. wind — moving air
  12. clip — for paper
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. row — a line
  15. plane — a tool
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. game — a match
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. capital — money
  20. capital — a city
  21. clip — a video
  22. game — wild animals
  23. saw — the tool
  24. chair — to sit on

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