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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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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: clip · race · fall · mark · racket · snap · stem · capital

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. race — a contest
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. capital — money
  5. fall — the season
  6. stem — to come from
  7. clip — a video
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. clip — for paper
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. fall — to drop
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. race — humankind
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. mark — a trace
  18. snap — to click
  19. capital — a city
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. mark — a grade
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. race — the arms race
  24. fall — to drop

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