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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: nail · face · wake · content · tear · clip · capital · lean

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. tear — to rip
  6. face — part of the head
  7. lean — to bend
  8. content — happy
  9. tear — from crying
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. tear — from crying
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — for paper
  14. lean — thin
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. clip — a video
  17. face — to confront
  18. content — the amount
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. wake — a trail
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. face — to point toward
  23. capital — a city
  24. capital — money

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