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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 120 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: hand · land · drill · saw · chip · clip · bear · capital

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  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. land — ground
  2. bear — the animal
  3. hand — in cards
  4. bear — the animal
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. drill — the tool
  10. capital — money
  11. land — a country
  12. clip — to cut
  13. saw — the tool
  14. chip — for betting
  15. clip — for paper
  16. chip — to eat
  17. drill — a practice
  18. saw — the tool
  19. drill — army training
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. land — to come down
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. hand — help
  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