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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: capital · lie · present · nail · snap · cold · wound · clip

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. wound — an injury
  4. cold — an illness
  5. capital — a city
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. capital — money
  10. clip — a video
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. present — the time now
  13. cold — not warm
  14. wound — an injury
  15. present — there
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. clip — for paper
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. snap — to click
  21. lie — to recline
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. clip — to cut
  24. nail — for a hammer

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