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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. content — the amount
  3. capital — a city
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. chest — a box
  6. chest — of your body
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. row — to paddle
  9. staff — employees
  10. clip — for paper
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. capital — money
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. chest — of your body
  15. staff — employees
  16. content — happy
  17. row — a line
  18. cap — of ice
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. clip — a video
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. cap — a hat
  23. staff — a stick
  24. cap — a lid

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