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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 116 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: net · land · fork · pound · capital · mate · clip · trunk

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. capital — a city
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. net — in sport
  5. mate — a partner
  6. net — for catching
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. land — ground
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. net — after costs
  12. capital — money
  13. mate — a friend
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. land — to come down
  16. fork — in a road
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. clip — for paper
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. land — a country
  21. clip — a video
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. mate — to breed
  24. pound — a weight

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