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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: charge · clip · net · court · chest · face · capital · cell

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. clip — for paper
  3. charge — electricity
  4. court — for sport
  5. net — in sport
  6. face — to confront
  7. face — to point toward
  8. clip — to cut
  9. face — part of the head
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. chest — of your body
  12. capital — a city
  13. charge — a price
  14. cell — in biology
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. court — of law
  17. chest — of your body
  18. court — of a king
  19. chest — a box
  20. net — for catching
  21. cell — a phone
  22. net — after costs
  23. clip — a video
  24. charge — in control

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