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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. clip — to cut
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. clip — for paper
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. current — happening now
  9. land — to come down
  10. capital — money
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. clip — a video
  13. capital — a city
  14. net — after costs
  15. content — the amount
  16. land — a country
  17. net — for catching
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. net — in sport
  21. content — happy
  22. current — of water
  23. land — ground
  24. trunk — of a tree

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