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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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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: wave · spring · clip · capital · fall · kick · vault · bear

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  19. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. spring — a coil
  4. capital — money
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. clip — a video
  7. clip — to cut
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. fall — to drop
  10. bear — the animal
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bear — the animal
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. spring — of water
  18. vault — an arched ceiling
  19. wave — a sudden rise
  20. fall — the season
  21. vault — a safe
  22. fall — to drop
  23. kick — in football
  24. spring — the season

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