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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: capital · kick · present · field · clip · foot · lash · march

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. foot — a measure
  3. present — there
  4. field — a subject
  5. clip — a video
  6. capital — money
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. field — farmland
  9. field — for sport
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. kick — in football
  12. march — music
  13. clip — to cut
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. present — a gift
  17. present — the time now
  18. capital — a city
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. march — the month
  21. march — the month
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. capital — a big letter

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