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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. staff — employees
  3. degree — from a university
  4. staff — employees
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. clip — for paper
  7. capital — a city
  8. content — happy
  9. clip — a video
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. degree — an amount
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. mine — for digging
  17. clip — to cut
  18. content — the amount
  19. staff — a stick
  20. capital — money
  21. degree — temperature
  22. bowl — a dish
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. bowl — a football final

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