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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: kid · scale · capital · bat · pop · firm · leaves · clip

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. clip — a video
  3. pop — soda
  4. scale — size or range
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. pop — to visit
  7. clip — to cut
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. firm — a company
  10. scale — in music
  11. firm — steady
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. firm — decided
  16. clip — for paper
  17. pop — music
  18. bat — the animal
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. capital — money
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. capital — a city
  24. kid — to tease

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