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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 120 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: rush · clip · pop · plane · lash · capital · scale · court

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. court — of a king
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. scale — size or range
  5. clip — to cut
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. capital — money
  8. clip — for paper
  9. rush — hurry
  10. pop — to visit
  11. court — of law
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. court — for sport
  15. pop — music
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. capital — a city
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. plane — a tool
  22. scale — in music
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. clip — a video

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