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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. clip — for paper
  3. current — of water
  4. chest — a box
  5. clip — a video
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — of your body
  8. march — the month
  9. march — the month
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. current — happening now
  12. fork — in a road
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. tube — a container
  15. clip — to cut
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. tube — the underground
  18. current — electric
  19. march — music
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. capital — a city
  24. sharp — clever

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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