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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: clip · club · spell · band · capital · cap · fan · object

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. club — for dancing
  3. clip — to cut
  4. club — a group
  5. band — a ring
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. clip — for paper
  10. club — for golf
  11. cap — a lid
  12. band — a music group
  13. cap — a hat
  14. spell — magic
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. capital — money
  17. object — a thing
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. object — to protest
  20. spell — letters
  21. cap — of ice
  22. clip — a video
  23. spell — a short time
  24. object — an aim

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