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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. last — finally
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. capital — money
  6. field — a subject
  7. jam — a tight spot
  8. field — for sport
  9. last — final
  10. pitch — completely
  11. tube — the underground
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. tube — a container
  14. clip — for paper
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. jam — in traffic
  17. cold — not warm
  18. last — to go on
  19. capital — a city
  20. field — farmland
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. clip — to cut
  23. jam — to spread on bread
  24. cold — an illness

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