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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: cold · mug · clip · capital · can · bat · drill · pitcher

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. mug — to rob
  5. capital — a city
  6. mug — a face
  7. clip — a video
  8. capital — money
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. drill — army training
  12. cold — not warm
  13. can — a tin
  14. drill — a practice
  15. drill — the tool
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. can — to be able to
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. clip — to cut
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. mug — a cup
  23. can — a tin
  24. cold — an illness

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