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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 120 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. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. row — a line
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. branch — a division
  12. shower — rain
  13. clip — for paper
  14. plane — a tool
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. clip — a video
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. shower — to wash
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. clip — to cut
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. row — to paddle
  24. capital — money

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