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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. capital — a city
  4. last — to go on
  5. spell — letters
  6. spell — a short time
  7. clip — a video
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. clip — to cut
  10. last — final
  11. spell — magic
  12. clip — for paper
  13. fine — all right
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. pitch — completely
  18. pit — in a race
  19. last — finally
  20. chair — a leader
  21. pit — a hole
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. capital — money
  24. chair — to sit on

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