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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: game · spell · row · wind · clip · capital · land · current

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. row — a line
  4. row — to paddle
  5. current — electric
  6. current — happening now
  7. spell — magic
  8. land — to come down
  9. clip — to cut
  10. wind — moving air
  11. clip — for paper
  12. land — a country
  13. game — a match
  14. spell — a short time
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. game — wild animals
  17. current — of water
  18. wind — moving air
  19. capital — a city
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. land — ground
  22. capital — money
  23. spell — letters
  24. row — a quarrel

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