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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. net — after costs
  3. net — in sport
  4. capital — money
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. net — for catching
  7. clip — a video
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. rule — government
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. clip — for paper
  13. content — happy
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. cold — not warm
  16. rule — a law
  17. cold — an illness
  18. lie — to recline
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. content — the amount
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. clip — to cut
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. calf — a young animal

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