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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 120 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: rush · land · stick · clip · capital · mine · deal · kid

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. clip — a video
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. capital — a city
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. mine — for digging
  7. land — to come down
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. land — ground
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. land — a country
  15. clip — to cut
  16. kid — child
  17. kid — to tease
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. capital — money
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. clip — for paper
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. deal — to handle

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