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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. chair — a leader
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — a video
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. track — a song
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. court — for sport
  9. capital — a city
  10. track — to keep track
  11. band — a music group
  12. capital — money
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. band — a ring
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. clip — for paper
  19. court — of a king
  20. track — a path
  21. court — of law
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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