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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — money
  3. cell — a phone
  4. file — a tool
  5. file — a document
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. saw — the tool
  8. clip — to cut
  9. saw — the tool
  10. file — a line of people
  11. hand — help
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. chair — a leader
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. cap — a hat
  16. cap — of ice
  17. clip — a video
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. cell — in biology
  20. hand — in cards
  21. cap — a lid
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. clip — for paper
  24. hand — part of the body

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