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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. capital — a city
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. plane — a tool
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. shower — to wash
  9. clip — a video
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. row — to paddle
  14. scale — size or range
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. net — after costs
  17. capital — money
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. net — in sport
  20. shower — rain
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. row — a line
  23. net — for catching
  24. scale — in music

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