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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 · field · rush · clip · wind · jam · bulb · bound

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. The light ________________ burned out.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. bulb — for light
  3. bound — certain
  4. rush — hurry
  5. jam — a tight spot
  6. wind — moving air
  7. jam — in traffic
  8. bulb — for light
  9. clip — for paper
  10. wind — moving air
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. field — farmland
  13. bound — obliged
  14. capital — a city
  15. capital — money
  16. bound — tied together
  17. jam — to spread on bread
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — to cut
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. field — a subject
  23. field — for sport
  24. capital — a big letter

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