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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · bark · content · branch · lash · coach · club · clip

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. club — for dancing
  3. capital — money
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. clip — a video
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. capital — a city
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. bark — to shout
  12. clip — to cut
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. clip — for paper
  16. branch — a division
  17. content — the amount
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. club — for golf
  24. club — a group

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