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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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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: capital · pitch · clip · racket · bass · cell

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. bass — the fish
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. clip — a video
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. pitch — completely
  10. bass — low music
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. capital — money
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. capital — a city
  16. cell — in biology
  17. clip — to cut
  18. clip — for paper

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