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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: lean · capital · clip · branch · hand · tube · tear · firm

  1. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. tube — a container
  3. capital — money
  4. clip — to cut
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. capital — a city
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. lean — thin
  9. tear — from crying
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. tube — the underground
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. lean — to bend
  14. firm — decided
  15. firm — a company
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — to rip
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — for paper
  21. firm — steady
  22. branch — a division
  23. hand — help
  24. hand — in cards

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