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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: wind · can · field · hand · saw · stem · mark · capital

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. field — for sport
  3. can — a tin
  4. capital — money
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. can — to be able to
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. hand — in cards
  10. can — a tin
  11. field — farmland
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. saw — the tool
  14. mark — a grade
  15. wind — moving air
  16. mark — a trace
  17. capital — a city
  18. field — a subject
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. stem — to come from
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. saw — the tool
  24. wind — moving air

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