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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.

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 · pit · spring · hide · bowl · capital · saw · game

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  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. clip — for paper
  2. capital — a city
  3. spring — of water
  4. spring — a coil
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. clip — a video
  8. pit — a hole
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. saw — the tool
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. game — wild animals
  15. pit — in a race
  16. saw — the tool
  17. game — a match
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. spring — the season
  23. capital — money
  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