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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 120 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: wound · clip · capital · trunk · lash · pop · pitcher · land

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. clip — a video
  3. wound — an injury
  4. pop — soda
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. wound — an injury
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. land — to come down
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pop — music
  16. land — ground
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. land — a country
  22. pop — to visit
  23. clip — for paper
  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