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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 120 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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. degree — an amount
  3. firm — decided
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. present — the time now
  6. tube — the underground
  7. clip — to cut
  8. firm — steady
  9. present — there
  10. degree — from a university
  11. march — the month
  12. capital — money
  13. band — a music group
  14. march — the month
  15. band — a ring
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. tube — a container
  18. clip — a video
  19. capital — a city
  20. degree — temperature
  21. present — a gift
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. clip — for paper
  24. march — music

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