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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. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. rule — government
  6. clip — to cut
  7. club — for dancing
  8. file — a line of people
  9. clip — a video
  10. capital — money
  11. rule — a law
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. capital — a city
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. file — a document
  17. file — a tool
  18. clip — for paper
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. club — for golf
  22. chair — a leader
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. dip — to sink

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