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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: hand · clip · cap · wind · last · wake · mouse · coach

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. cap — a hat
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. clip — to cut
  5. last — to go on
  6. last — finally
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. wake — a trail
  9. cap — of ice
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. cap — a lid
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — for paper
  14. last — final
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. hand — help
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — moving air
  24. hand — in cards

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