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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: plane · perch · clip · snap · content · capital

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. snap — to click
  3. content — happy
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. capital — a city
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. plane — a tool
  12. perch — the fish
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. capital — money
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — for paper
  18. content — the amount

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