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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 120 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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. march — music
  3. clip — for paper
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. clip — to cut
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. game — a match
  9. clip — a video
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. march — the month
  14. capital — a city
  15. file — a line of people
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. march — the month
  18. file — a tool
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. pound — a weight
  22. file — a document
  23. capital — money
  24. game — wild animals

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