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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. clip — a video
  3. game — a match
  4. clip — for paper
  5. bulb — for light
  6. game — wild animals
  7. capital — a city
  8. net — in sport
  9. roll — a list
  10. stem — to come from
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. capital — money
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. wind — moving air
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. roll — a cake
  20. clip — to cut
  21. net — for catching
  22. net — after costs
  23. bulb — for light
  24. stem — a stem cell

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