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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: rule · spell · cell · wind · last · perch · ball · capital

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. last — to go on
  3. ball — a dance
  4. spell — magic
  5. rule — a law
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. cell — a phone
  10. wind — moving air
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. capital — a city
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. spell — letters
  15. wind — moving air
  16. perch — the fish
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. capital — money
  19. last — final
  20. rule — government
  21. ball — a great time
  22. spell — a short time
  23. cell — in biology
  24. last — finally

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