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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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Word bank
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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: clip · tear · racket · pop · capital · cue

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. pop — soda
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. pop — music
  7. clip — a video
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. cue — a signal
  10. tear — from crying
  11. cue — for pool
  12. tear — from crying
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a city
  15. tear — to rip
  16. cue — a hint
  17. clip — for paper
  18. pop — to visit

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