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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.

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: suit · wind · clip · court · trunk · leaves · field · capital

  1. When will it ________________ you to start?
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — to fit
  2. court — for sport
  3. field — for sport
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. suit — in cards
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. court — of a king
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. field — a subject
  10. wind — moving air
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — to cut
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. suit — clothes
  16. capital — a city
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. court — of law
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. wind — moving air
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. clip — a video
  23. field — farmland
  24. capital — money

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