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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: wake · tube · fall · lash · cell · clip · capital · ball

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. capital — a city
  4. capital — money
  5. tube — the underground
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. fall — to drop
  9. cell — a phone
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. clip — for paper
  12. cell — in biology
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. clip — to cut
  15. fall — to drop
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. tube — a container
  18. clip — a video
  19. fall — the season
  20. ball — a great time
  21. wake — a trail
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. ball — a dance
  24. lash — an eyelash

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