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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: clip · bulb · net · cold · fan · capital · branch · chair

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I've got to change the light ________________.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. clip — to cut
  3. capital — a city
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. net — after costs
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bulb — for light
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. capital — money
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. branch — a division
  15. cold — an illness
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. clip — a video
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. net — in sport
  20. clip — for paper
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. bulb — for light
  23. chair — a leader
  24. net — for catching

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