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

Word bank: capital · bat · clip · mate · kid · vault

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. clip — a video
  3. kid — to tease
  4. mate — a friend
  5. capital — money
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. clip — for paper
  9. vault — in gymnastics
  10. mate — a partner
  11. mate — to breed
  12. kid — child
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. bat — the animal
  15. capital — a city
  16. clip — to cut
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. vault — a safe

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