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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 116 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: pitcher · pitch · fork · bark · capital · content · clip · wind

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. capital — a city
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. fork — in a road
  6. capital — money
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. content — happy
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. wind — moving air
  12. clip — a video
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. clip — for paper
  16. clip — to cut
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. content — the amount
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. bark — to shout
  22. wind — moving air
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. pitcher — a jug

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