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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 116 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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  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. tube — the underground
  2. clip — a video
  3. bass — the fish
  4. bear — the animal
  5. clip — for paper
  6. hide — animal skin
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. cell — a phone
  9. bass — low music
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. bear — the animal
  12. field — a subject
  13. field — farmland
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. field — for sport
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. clip — to cut
  18. capital — a city
  19. cell — in biology
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. tube — a container
  23. capital — a big letter
  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