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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: clip · bass · land · bat · degree · bark · capital · chip

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. degree — temperature
  5. capital — a city
  6. land — a country
  7. capital — money
  8. bass — low music
  9. clip — a video
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bark — to shout
  13. degree — from a university
  14. bass — the fish
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. clip — for paper
  18. land — to come down
  19. degree — an amount
  20. chip — to eat
  21. land — ground
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. clip — to cut
  24. chip — for betting

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