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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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468
Word bank
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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. present — a gift
  3. can — to be able to
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. capital — money
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — an amount
  8. clip — to cut
  9. file — a document
  10. degree — from a university
  11. clip — for paper
  12. present — there
  13. present — the time now
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. band — a ring
  17. capital — a city
  18. file — a line of people
  19. can — a tin
  20. pit — in a race
  21. clip — a video
  22. can — a tin
  23. file — a tool
  24. band — a music group

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