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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. craft — a skill
  4. perch — the fish
  5. craft — boats
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. capital — money
  8. file — a document
  9. clip — for paper
  10. club — for dancing
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. file — a line of people
  13. stock — goods
  14. club — for golf
  15. file — a tool
  16. club — a group
  17. cap — a lid
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. clip — a video
  20. cap — a hat
  21. capital — a city
  22. stock — shares
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. cap — of ice

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