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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. pitch — completely
  4. hand — help
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. capital — money
  7. hand — in cards
  8. clip — to cut
  9. capital — a city
  10. file — a tool
  11. tube — the underground
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. clip — a video
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. clip — for paper
  17. file — a document
  18. tube — a container

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