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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 always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — lets stay
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. swing — music
  4. capital — money
  5. field — a subject
  6. present — a gift
  7. swing — to play on
  8. cap — a hat
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. field — farmland
  11. cap — a lid
  12. field — for sport
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. present — there
  15. scale — in music
  16. scale — size or range
  17. clip — to cut
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. clip — for paper
  20. swing — in golf
  21. cap — of ice
  22. clip — a video
  23. present — the time now
  24. capital — a city

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