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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 116 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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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: ball · capital · trunk · clip · bowl · patient · kid · wind

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. ball — a dance
  3. capital — a city
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. ball — a great time
  6. wind — moving air
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. capital — money
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. clip — for paper
  11. kid — to tease
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. clip — a video
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. kid — child
  19. wind — moving air
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. clip — to cut

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