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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. clip — to cut
  3. craft — boats
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. wound — an injury
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. kick — in football
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. degree — from a university
  10. capital — money
  11. clip — for paper
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. clip — a video
  14. snap — to click
  15. wound — an injury
  16. lean — to bend
  17. degree — an amount
  18. degree — temperature
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. craft — a skill
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. lean — thin

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