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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. capital — money
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — for paper
  5. cell — a phone
  6. land — a country
  7. craft — a skill
  8. cell — in biology
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. land — ground
  11. capital — a city
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. bat — the animal
  16. clip — a video
  17. pitch — completely
  18. land — to come down
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. craft — boats
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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