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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. tube — the underground
  5. clip — to cut
  6. tube — a container
  7. clip — for paper
  8. capital — money
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. clip — a video
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. hand — help
  18. bat — the animal
  19. pound — a weight
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. hand — in cards

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