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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. pound — a weight
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. cell — a phone
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. capital — a city
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. clip — for paper
  11. game — a match
  12. clip — to cut
  13. cell — in biology
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. game — wild animals
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. chair — a leader
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. capital — money
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. clip — a video

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