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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: root · craft · sharp · clip · capital · trunk · mine · bowl

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. capital — a city
  4. clip — to cut
  5. mine — for digging
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. root — of a word
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. craft — a skill
  11. root — the cause
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. sharp — clever
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. clip — for paper
  17. craft — boats
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. capital — money
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. root — of a plant
  23. clip — a video
  24. bowl — to roll

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