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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: pit · shower · dip · clip · bark · straw · racket · capital

  1. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. pit — in a race
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. clip — for paper
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. clip — a video
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. capital — a city
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. capital — money
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. pit — a hole
  16. dip — to sink
  17. bark — to shout
  18. shower — to wash
  19. clip — to cut
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. shower — rain
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. straw — a straw man

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