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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  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. capital — a city
  2. clip — for paper
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. spell — letters
  5. wound — an injury
  6. kid — child
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. capital — money
  12. kid — to tease
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. wound — an injury
  15. pitch — completely
  16. spell — magic
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. roll — a cake
  19. roll — a list
  20. spell — a short time
  21. clip — a video
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. lash — to lash out
  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