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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 116 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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. capital — a city
  3. cell — a phone
  4. fall — the season
  5. bass — the fish
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. clip — for paper
  10. scale — in music
  11. clip — to cut
  12. bass — low music
  13. pitch — completely
  14. scale — size or range
  15. fall — to drop
  16. capital — money
  17. swing — music
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. swing — in golf
  20. cell — in biology
  21. swing — to play on
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. clip — a video
  24. fall — to drop

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