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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: clip · last · tear · bat · bulb · craft · capital · shower

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. shower — to wash
  5. capital — money
  6. last — final
  7. clip — for paper
  8. last — to go on
  9. craft — a skill
  10. bulb — for light
  11. tear — from crying
  12. shower — rain
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bulb — for light
  15. tear — from crying
  16. craft — boats
  17. last — finally
  18. capital — a city
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. tear — to rip
  22. clip — a video
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. bat — for baseball

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