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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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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: deal · capital · bark · court · lie · wound · wind · last

  1. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — an untruth
  2. wound — an injury
  3. last — final
  4. wind — moving air
  5. capital — a city
  6. bark — to shout
  7. court — for sport
  8. court — of a king
  9. last — to go on
  10. wind — moving air
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. last — finally
  13. court — of law
  14. capital — money
  15. lie — to recline
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. wound — an injury
  21. deal — to handle
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. deal — a big deal

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