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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 116 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: wind · cap · fall · leaves · march · rest · clip · land

  1. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. land — ground
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. cap — a hat
  5. land — a country
  6. march — the month
  7. fall — to drop
  8. march — the month
  9. cap — of ice
  10. fall — to drop
  11. clip — for paper
  12. rest — what's left
  13. rest — a break
  14. clip — a video
  15. land — to come down
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. march — music
  20. wind — moving air
  21. cap — a lid
  22. fall — the season
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. clip — to cut

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