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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. current — happening now
  3. degree — from a university
  4. capital — a city
  5. land — to come down
  6. land — a country
  7. current — of water
  8. plane — a tool
  9. clip — for paper
  10. fall — to drop
  11. clip — a video
  12. degree — temperature
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. fall — the season
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. fall — to drop
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. land — ground
  20. degree — an amount
  21. current — electric
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. capital — money
  24. clip — to cut

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