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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 · shower · mine · capital · arm · lean · deal · content

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. capital — money
  3. lean — thin
  4. lean — to bend
  5. deal — to handle
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. content — happy
  8. content — the amount
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. capital — a city
  11. clip — for paper
  12. mine — for digging
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. shower — to wash
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. shower — rain
  19. clip — a video
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. mine — an explosive

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