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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. staff — a stick
  3. clip — a video
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. chair — a leader
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. clip — to cut
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. file — a line of people
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. capital — a city
  13. dip — to sink
  14. scale — size or range
  15. scale — in music
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. capital — money
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. clip — for paper
  20. staff — employees
  21. file — a tool
  22. file — a document
  23. staff — employees
  24. kick — in football

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