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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: craft · clip · shower · game · capital · stem · row · content

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. game — a match
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. game — wild animals
  5. content — the amount
  6. shower — rain
  7. capital — money
  8. row — to paddle
  9. craft — boats
  10. craft — a skill
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. shower — to wash
  14. content — happy
  15. clip — for paper
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. stem — to come from
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. clip — a video
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. row — a line
  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