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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: pound · capital · vault · court · clip · stock · bore · wound

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. clip — a video
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. vault — a safe
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. capital — money
  9. wound — an injury
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. clip — to cut
  12. capital — a city
  13. court — for sport
  14. wound — an injury
  15. bore — to drill
  16. bore — to tire
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. court — of a king
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. pound — a weight
  21. stock — shares
  22. stock — goods
  23. court — of law
  24. bore — gave birth

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