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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 116 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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. court — for sport
  4. clip — to cut
  5. capital — a city
  6. court — of law
  7. cue — for pool
  8. court — of a king
  9. clip — a video
  10. mine — for digging
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. clip — for paper
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. cue — a signal
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. cue — a hint
  18. mine — belonging to me

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