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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: rule · wound · file · row · spring · kid · race · capital

  1. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — to rule out
  2. rule — government
  3. file — a document
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. spring — of water
  6. capital — money
  7. spring — a coil
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. race — a contest
  10. race — humankind
  11. wound — an injury
  12. race — the arms race
  13. kid — child
  14. wound — an injury
  15. spring — the season
  16. row — to paddle
  17. capital — a city
  18. rule — a law
  19. file — a tool
  20. kid — to tease
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. row — a line
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. file — a line of people

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