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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 120 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: plane · bowl · sharp · capital · chest · craft · wind · kick

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. capital — a city
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. sharp — clever
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. chest — of your body
  8. craft — boats
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. chest — a box
  14. wind — moving air
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. plane — a tool
  18. wind — moving air
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. craft — a skill
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. capital — money

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