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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. ball — a dance
  3. key — in music
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. key — for a lock
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — money
  9. scale — size or range
  10. drill — a practice
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. clip — for paper
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. scale — in music
  15. pass — a permit
  16. drill — army training
  17. shower — to wash
  18. ball — a great time
  19. clip — to cut
  20. shower — rain
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. drill — the tool
  23. clip — a video
  24. capital — a big letter

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