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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Where did you ________________ them?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. last — finally
  4. clip — for paper
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. clip — a video
  7. mug — to rob
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. last — to go on
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. capital — a city
  12. mug — a face
  13. mug — a cup
  14. capital — money
  15. jam — to spread on bread
  16. land — ground
  17. land — a country
  18. land — to come down
  19. pass — to succeed
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. jam — in traffic
  22. clip — to cut
  23. pass — a permit
  24. jam — a tight spot

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