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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. chip — for betting
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. file — a tool
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — for paper
  9. rock — music
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. net — for catching
  12. net — after costs
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. net — in sport
  15. chip — to eat
  16. capital — a city
  17. clip — to cut
  18. file — a line of people
  19. content — the amount
  20. rock — a stone
  21. file — a document
  22. content — happy
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. pitch — completely

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