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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 120 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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. clip — a video
  3. content — happy
  4. capital — money
  5. cap — of ice
  6. clip — to cut
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. season — of the year
  9. shower — rain
  10. net — for catching
  11. clip — for paper
  12. pitch — completely
  13. net — after costs
  14. cap — a hat
  15. season — in sport
  16. shower — to wash
  17. capital — a city
  18. content — the amount
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. net — in sport
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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