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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. mine — for digging
  4. capital — money
  5. clip — to cut
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. clip — for paper
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. capital — a city
  13. march — the month
  14. branch — a division
  15. can — to be able to
  16. march — the month
  17. pass — a permit
  18. row — to paddle
  19. march — music
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. clip — a video
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. can — a tin
  24. can — a tin

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