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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 116 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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. club — a group
  3. clip — a video
  4. ground — a position
  5. rest — what's left
  6. track — to keep track
  7. capital — money
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. rest — what's left
  10. track — a song
  11. club — for dancing
  12. rest — a break
  13. clip — for paper
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. track — a path
  16. ground — crushed
  17. clip — to cut
  18. pop — to visit
  19. pop — soda
  20. bat — the animal
  21. club — for golf
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. ground — the earth
  24. capital — a city

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