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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 · safe · drill · capital · bear · clip · wound · spell

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. wound — an injury
  3. clip — for paper
  4. spell — magic
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. clip — to cut
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. spell — a short time
  9. bear — the animal
  10. capital — money
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. safe — out of danger
  13. clip — a video
  14. spell — letters
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. drill — the tool
  17. drill — a practice
  18. drill — army training
  19. hand — help
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. bear — the animal
  22. safe — a strongbox
  23. wound — an injury
  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