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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 · hide · club · capital · drill · leaves · kid · face

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. capital — money
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. face — part of the head
  7. club — a group
  8. clip — a video
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. club — for dancing
  13. kid — to tease
  14. capital — a city
  15. kid — child
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — for paper
  18. drill — army training
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. drill — the tool
  22. drill — a practice
  23. face — to point toward
  24. face — to confront

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