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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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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: tear · drill · fall · wind · swing · bound · roll · capital

  1. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. capital — money
  4. fall — to drop
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. tear — to rip
  7. roll — a cake
  8. bound — tied together
  9. swing — in golf
  10. tear — from crying
  11. fall — the season
  12. swing — to play on
  13. wind — moving air
  14. swing — music
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. drill — a practice
  17. tear — from crying
  18. bound — certain
  19. wind — moving air
  20. capital — a city
  21. drill — army training
  22. roll — a list
  23. fall — to drop
  24. drill — the tool

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