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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 116 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: cap · clip · kick · capital · stand · mine · pop · fall

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. mine — for digging
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. stand — to bear
  6. cap — a hat
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. fall — to drop
  10. pop — music
  11. pop — soda
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. kick — in football
  15. cap — of ice
  16. capital — a city
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. capital — money
  19. fall — to drop
  20. fall — the season
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. pop — to visit
  23. cap — a lid
  24. kick — with a leg

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