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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: bark · capital · chest · cell · ball · clip · pop · fall

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. pop — music
  3. chest — a box
  4. chest — of your body
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. bark — to shout
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — the season
  9. capital — a city
  10. chest — of your body
  11. pop — to visit
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. clip — for paper
  14. cell — a phone
  15. capital — money
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. pop — soda
  18. fall — to drop
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. ball — a dance
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. ball — a great time
  23. clip — a video
  24. cell — in biology

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