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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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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: kid · hide · capital · rest · clip · wave

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. capital — a city
  7. rest — what's left
  8. clip — for paper
  9. rest — a break
  10. capital — money
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. clip — to cut
  14. kid — child
  15. rest — what's left
  16. clip — a video
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. capital — a big letter

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