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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 thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. clip — a video
  3. fork — in a road
  4. capital — a city
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. clip — to cut
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. clip — for paper
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. spring — the season
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. chair — a leader
  16. capital — money
  17. spring — a coil
  18. shower — to wash
  19. spring — of water
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. shower — rain
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. fork — a garden tool

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