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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: season · capital · court · last · clip · pitcher · snap · game

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. clip — a video
  5. last — to go on
  6. clip — to cut
  7. snap — to click
  8. game — a match
  9. season — of the year
  10. capital — a city
  11. last — final
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. court — of a king
  16. clip — for paper
  17. game — wild animals
  18. season — in sport
  19. court — of law
  20. capital — money
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. last — finally
  24. court — for sport

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