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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: capital · scale · wind · mate · drill · field · chip · arm

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. capital — a city
  3. capital — money
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. mate — a partner
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. scale — size or range
  9. chip — to eat
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. field — for sport
  12. drill — the tool
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. mate — to breed
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. wind — moving air
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. chip — for betting
  19. drill — a practice
  20. field — a subject
  21. mate — a friend
  22. field — farmland
  23. scale — in music
  24. drill — army training

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