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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. game — a match
  3. capital — money
  4. clip — for paper
  5. cell — a phone
  6. march — music
  7. cell — in biology
  8. spell — letters
  9. spell — a short time
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. march — the month
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. march — the month
  15. clip — to cut
  16. game — wild animals
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. capital — a city
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. clip — a video
  24. capital — a big letter

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