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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. capital — money
  4. ground — a position
  5. bat — the animal
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. clip — for paper
  8. pop — to visit
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. capital — a city
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. file — a document
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. pop — soda
  16. ground — the earth
  17. date — the fruit
  18. pop — music
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. file — a tool
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. clip — to cut
  23. file — a line of people
  24. ground — crushed

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