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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 · race · capital · prune · bass · cell

  1. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. bass — low music
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. capital — money
  5. race — humankind
  6. clip — to cut
  7. bass — the fish
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. cell — in biology
  10. capital — a city
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. race — a contest
  13. cell — a phone
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. prune — to trim
  16. clip — for paper
  17. clip — a video
  18. prune — to trim

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