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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: trunk · object · cold · net · ball · capital · fall · clip

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. net — after costs
  3. object — an aim
  4. net — in sport
  5. clip — for paper
  6. clip — a video
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. cold — not warm
  9. fall — to drop
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. clip — to cut
  13. capital — a city
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. cold — an illness
  17. net — for catching
  18. ball — a dance
  19. fall — the season
  20. capital — money
  21. fall — to drop
  22. ball — a great time
  23. object — to protest
  24. object — a thing

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