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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. 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. row — a line
  2. shower — rain
  3. toast — bread
  4. clip — a video
  5. file — a document
  6. row — to paddle
  7. file — a tool
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. shower — to wash
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. clip — to cut
  12. toast — the most admired
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. clip — for paper
  15. toast — a drink to someone
  16. capital — a city
  17. file — a line of people
  18. 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