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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: nail · clip · kick · tear · wound · fan · capital · bowl

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. wound — an injury
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. clip — a video
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. capital — a city
  14. tear — from crying
  15. kick — in football
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. tear — from crying
  20. clip — for paper
  21. wound — an injury
  22. capital — money
  23. clip — to cut
  24. tear — to rip

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