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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: file · capital · mouse · wind · club · land · kick · hand

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. kick — in football
  3. capital — money
  4. hand — help
  5. hand — in cards
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. wind — moving air
  10. club — a group
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. club — for dancing
  14. file — a tool
  15. land — a country
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. land — to come down
  18. file — a line of people
  19. file — a document
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. wind — moving air
  23. land — ground
  24. capital — a city

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