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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.

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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: capital · fall · hide · ball · field · patient · clip · deal

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. fall — the season
  3. clip — a video
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. field — farmland
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. capital — a city
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. field — a subject
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. fall — to drop
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. ball — a dance
  16. clip — to cut
  17. capital — money
  18. deal — to handle
  19. fall — to drop
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. ball — a great time
  22. field — for sport
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. deal — an agreement

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