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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: hide · mark · kick · cap · clip · bat · wind · capital

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. mark — a grade
  4. clip — a video
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. bat — the animal
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. wind — moving air
  11. clip — for paper
  12. kick — in football
  13. wind — moving air
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. cap — a hat
  16. mark — a trace
  17. cap — of ice
  18. clip — to cut
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. capital — money
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. capital — a city

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