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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'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  16. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. jam — in traffic
  3. band — a music group
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. jam — a tight spot
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — a video
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. capital — money
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. capital — a city
  15. firm — a company
  16. jam — to spread on bread
  17. bat — the animal
  18. pass — a permit
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. firm — decided
  22. clip — for paper
  23. band — a ring
  24. mine — for digging

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