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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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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 fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. cell — in biology
  3. capital — a city
  4. clip — for paper
  5. tube — the underground
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. land — to come down
  10. clip — a video
  11. object — a thing
  12. land — ground
  13. land — a country
  14. tube — a container
  15. bass — low music
  16. clip — to cut
  17. object — to protest
  18. capital — money
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. cell — a phone
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. object — an aim
  24. bark — to shout

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