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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. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — of a tree
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. tube — a container
  5. craft — a skill
  6. craft — boats
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. leaves — lets stay
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bat — the animal
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. squash — the sport
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. scale — size or range
  17. clip — to cut
  18. scale — in music
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. capital — money
  21. squash — to crush
  22. tube — the underground
  23. capital — a city
  24. clip — a video

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