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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. pit — in a race
  3. clip — to cut
  4. track — to keep track
  5. track — a path
  6. wax — to grow
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. clip — for paper
  12. dip — to sink
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. pit — a hole
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. pound — a weight
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. capital — a city
  19. capital — money
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. track — a song
  23. clip — a video
  24. dip — to dunk

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