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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bat · roll · game · capital · clip · temple · cap · present

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. When was this ________________ built?
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. present — there
  3. clip — to cut
  4. cap — of ice
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. game — wild animals
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. roll — a cake
  12. bat — the animal
  13. capital — a city
  14. present — the time now
  15. cap — a hat
  16. clip — a video
  17. roll — a list
  18. cap — a lid
  19. clip — for paper
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. capital — money
  22. present — a gift
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. game — a match

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