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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: foot · capital · sharp · bound · file · clip · court · row

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. bound — certain
  4. file — a tool
  5. file — a line of people
  6. sharp — clever
  7. bound — tied together
  8. file — a document
  9. foot — a measure
  10. court — of a king
  11. capital — a city
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. row — to paddle
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. court — of law
  16. capital — money
  17. clip — a video
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. row — a line
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. court — for sport
  23. clip — for paper
  24. bound — obliged

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