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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 old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. field — farmland
  3. file — a line of people
  4. capital — a city
  5. roll — a list
  6. clip — a video
  7. field — a subject
  8. net — for catching
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. capital — money
  11. staff — employees
  12. roll — a cake
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. file — a tool
  16. rule — a law
  17. clip — for paper
  18. staff — employees
  19. net — after costs
  20. clip — to cut
  21. field — for sport
  22. net — in sport
  23. file — a document
  24. rule — government

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