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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. mate — a partner
  3. ground — a position
  4. mate — to breed
  5. ground — crushed
  6. clip — a video
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. roll — a cake
  9. mate — a friend
  10. capital — money
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. clip — to cut
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. clip — for paper
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. ground — the earth
  19. capital — a city
  20. roll — a list
  21. cap — a hat
  22. plane — a tool
  23. cap — of ice
  24. cap — a lid

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