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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: clip · capital · ball · chest · calf · temple · nail · pop

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. pop — music
  3. clip — for paper
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. ball — a dance
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. chest — of your body
  10. ball — a great time
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. chest — a box
  17. clip — to cut
  18. capital — money
  19. chest — of your body
  20. pop — to visit
  21. pop — soda
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. clip — a video
  24. calf — of the leg

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