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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: clip · drill · stick · capital · cell · band

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. cell — a phone
  3. clip — for paper
  4. stick — to attach or keep to
  5. capital — a city
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. band — a music group
  8. drill — the tool
  9. drill — a practice
  10. clip — a video
  11. drill — army training
  12. cell — in biology
  13. band — a ring
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. clip — to cut
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. cell — in a prison

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