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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: clip · capital · kick · pitch · field · can · patient · game

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. field — farmland
  3. kick — in football
  4. game — wild animals
  5. game — a match
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. pitch — completely
  8. clip — a video
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. capital — money
  12. clip — for paper
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. can — a tin
  20. field — a subject
  21. can — a tin
  22. can — to be able to
  23. field — for sport
  24. capital — a city

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