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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: roll · capital · cell · present · clip · wound · kid · racket

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. wound — an injury
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. kid — child
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. wound — an injury
  10. clip — a video
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. capital — money
  13. cell — a phone
  14. present — a gift
  15. roll — a list
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. kid — to tease
  18. clip — to cut
  19. cell — in biology
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. present — the time now
  23. roll — a cake
  24. present — there

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