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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: straw · field · calf · clip · capital · chest · stick · pit

  1. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. pit — in a race
  3. capital — a city
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. chest — of your body
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. clip — to cut
  8. field — farmland
  9. field — for sport
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. field — a subject
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. chest — a box
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. chest — of your body
  16. clip — a video
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. capital — money
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. clip — for paper
  24. straw — dry grass

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