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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. net — in sport
  3. net — for catching
  4. net — after costs
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. tube — the underground
  7. cell — a phone
  8. cell — in biology
  9. shower — to wash
  10. clip — to cut
  11. tube — a container
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. spring — the season
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. capital — money
  17. shower — rain
  18. clip — for paper
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. spring — of water
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. spring — a coil
  24. capital — a city

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