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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. clip — to cut
  3. march — music
  4. ground — a position
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. last — finally
  9. clip — for paper
  10. object — to protest
  11. capital — money
  12. ground — the earth
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. object — an aim
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. march — the month
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. ground — crushed
  19. object — a thing
  20. march — the month
  21. last — to go on
  22. last — final
  23. clip — a video
  24. bark — to shout

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