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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: racket · court · spell · capital · snap · cap · date · clip

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. date — the fruit
  4. cap — a hat
  5. cap — a lid
  6. snap — to click
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. capital — money
  9. cap — of ice
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. spell — a short time
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. spell — magic
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. capital — a city
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. court — of a king
  21. court — of law
  22. spell — letters
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. clip — a video

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