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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wound — an injury
  5. clip — for paper
  6. capital — a city
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. net — after costs
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. capital — money
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. wind — moving air
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. wind — moving air
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. clip — to cut
  17. rule — a law
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. clip — a video
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. rule — government
  23. net — in sport
  24. pitcher — a jug

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