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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: capital · trunk · tear · clip · stem · racket

  1. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. tear — from crying
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. tear — from crying
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. tear — to rip
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — for paper
  12. stem — to come from
  13. capital — a city
  14. clip — to cut
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. capital — money
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. trunk — of an elephant

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