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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 hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. row — a line
  3. clip — to cut
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. capital — a city
  6. band — a music group
  7. cap — a lid
  8. file — a document
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. clip — a video
  11. band — a ring
  12. tube — a container
  13. file — a tool
  14. file — a line of people
  15. capital — money
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. cap — of ice
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. row — to paddle
  22. tube — the underground
  23. clip — for paper
  24. cap — a hat

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