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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: bass · capital · cap · pitch · fork · game · clip · race

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. game — a match
  5. pitch — completely
  6. race — a contest
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. cap — a lid
  10. capital — a city
  11. cap — of ice
  12. game — wild animals
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bass — the fish
  16. race — humankind
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. fork — in a road
  19. clip — a video
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. capital — money
  22. bass — low music
  23. cap — a hat
  24. race — the arms race

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