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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: nail · bark · kick · bat · capital · stand · clip · racket

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. capital — a city
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. kick — in football
  6. clip — to cut
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. clip — a video
  11. bat — the animal
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bark — to shout
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. stand — to bear
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. capital — money

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