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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. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — in a road
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. capital — money
  5. current — of water
  6. clip — a video
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. file — a line of people
  10. clip — for paper
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. bat — the animal
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. kick — in football
  16. file — a tool
  17. clip — to cut
  18. current — happening now
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. file — a document
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. current — electric
  23. pound — a weight
  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