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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 · chair · hand · clip · chip · wave · toast · shower

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. chair — a leader
  4. capital — a city
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. clip — a video
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. hand — help
  10. capital — money
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. clip — for paper
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. clip — to cut
  16. shower — to wash
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. hand — in cards
  22. chip — for betting
  23. shower — rain
  24. chip — to eat

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