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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: capital · bat · game · spell · bark · stick · file · fan

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. capital — a city
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. file — a line of people
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. file — a document
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. spell — a short time
  16. spell — letters
  17. capital — money
  18. game — a match
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. bark — to shout
  22. bat — the animal
  23. game — wild animals
  24. file — a 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