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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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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 · wound · clip · club · temple · track · fall · plane

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. clip — for paper
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. clip — a video
  5. fall — to drop
  6. capital — a city
  7. fall — to drop
  8. plane — a tool
  9. club — for dancing
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. fall — the season
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. club — for golf
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — an injury
  19. track — a path
  20. track — a song
  21. clip — to cut
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. club — a group
  24. track — to keep track

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