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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. fine — high quality
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — for paper
  6. land — a country
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. land — to come down
  9. capital — a city
  10. spell — letters
  11. fine — all right
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. lean — to bend
  14. lean — thin
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. capital — money
  19. spell — magic
  20. clip — to cut
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. spell — a short time
  24. fine — a penalty

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