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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: capital · land · craft · fork · clip · bore · snap · net

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. bore — to tire
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. land — to come down
  5. fork — in a road
  6. net — after costs
  7. bore — to drill
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — a video
  13. craft — boats
  14. clip — to cut
  15. capital — money
  16. land — ground
  17. land — a country
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. snap — to click
  20. craft — a skill
  21. net — for catching
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. net — in sport
  24. capital — a city

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