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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: clip · saw · deal · squash · wake · row · pitch · capital

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. squash — to crush
  3. clip — to cut
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. deal — to handle
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. row — a line
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — for paper
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. row — to paddle
  15. saw — the tool
  16. squash — the sport
  17. pitch — completely
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. saw — the tool
  22. wake — a trail
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. capital — money

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