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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: present · bat · craft · capital · ground · file · rash · wind

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. capital — money
  3. craft — boats
  4. rash — a series
  5. craft — a skill
  6. file — a line of people
  7. rash — hasty
  8. ground — the earth
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. file — a tool
  12. wind — moving air
  13. file — a document
  14. ground — crushed
  15. present — a gift
  16. present — the time now
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. capital — a city
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. bat — the animal
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. ground — a position
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. wind — moving air

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