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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. game — wild animals
  5. clip — for paper
  6. face — part of the head
  7. rule — government
  8. face — to confront
  9. prune — to trim
  10. rule — a law
  11. field — farmland
  12. face — to point toward
  13. prune — to trim
  14. pit — a hole
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — a video
  17. field — a subject
  18. capital — money
  19. pit — in a race
  20. game — a match
  21. capital — a city
  22. field — for sport
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. rule — to rule out

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