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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. mine — for digging
  3. capital — money
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. clip — for paper
  6. mate — a friend
  7. content — happy
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. fine — all right
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. clip — a video
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. mate — a partner
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. capital — a city
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. content — the amount
  22. fine — high quality
  23. mate — to breed
  24. racket — for tennis

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