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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 124 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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  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. capital — a city
  2. clip — for paper
  3. staff — employees
  4. staff — a stick
  5. root — of a word
  6. object — an aim
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. capital — money
  10. spell — a short time
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. clip — to cut
  13. staff — employees
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. object — to protest
  16. bark — to shout
  17. root — of a plant
  18. spell — letters
  19. mine — for digging
  20. object — a thing
  21. spell — magic
  22. root — the cause
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. clip — a video

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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