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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: clip · capital · spell · pass · club · scale · game · trunk

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  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. club — for golf
  2. spell — letters
  3. club — a group
  4. pass — a permit
  5. clip — for paper
  6. capital — money
  7. game — wild animals
  8. scale — size or range
  9. spell — a short time
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. spell — magic
  13. scale — in music
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. clip — to cut
  17. game — a match
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. capital — a city
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. club — for dancing
  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