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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. capital — a city
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. clip — to cut
  5. vault — an arched ceiling
  6. field — farmland
  7. chair — a leader
  8. clip — a video
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. pitch — completely
  11. net — in sport
  12. vault — a safe
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. capital — money
  15. drill — a practice
  16. clip — for paper
  17. net — for catching
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. net — after costs
  20. field — a subject
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. drill — army training
  24. drill — the tool

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