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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: chest · rule · patient · capital · clip · cabinet

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. What do you think of the new ________________?
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. clip — a video
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. clip — for paper
  6. rule — a law
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. rule — government
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. chest — a box
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. capital — a city
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. capital — money
  16. chest — of your body
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. clip — to cut

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