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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: capital · bass · clip · branch · file · face · cell · chip

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. face — to confront
  3. cell — a phone
  4. bass — the fish
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. capital — a city
  7. file — a tool
  8. file — a line of people
  9. cell — in biology
  10. chip — to eat
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. branch — a division
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. face — part of the head
  15. face — to point toward
  16. chip — for betting
  17. clip — to cut
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — for paper
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. bass — low music
  23. file — a document
  24. capital — a big letter

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