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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: file · bark · capital · bound · spell · stand · cold · hide

  1. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. I can't ________________ this cold.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  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. bound — tied together
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. stand — for spectators
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. file — a document
  6. spell — letters
  7. cold — not warm
  8. capital — a city
  9. spell — magic
  10. file — a tool
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. capital — money
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. bound — certain
  17. bark — to shout
  18. stand — to bear
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. spell — a short time
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bound — obliged
  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