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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 116 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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. capital — a city
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. clip — a video
  6. bass — low music
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. clip — to cut
  9. content — happy
  10. capital — money
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. kid — child
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. stem — to come from
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. content — the amount
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. clip — for paper
  22. bat — the animal
  23. kid — to tease
  24. wax — to grow

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