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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. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. mine — for digging
  3. kick — in football
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. capital — money
  6. bulb — for light
  7. bulb — for light
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. game — a match
  10. clip — for paper
  11. clip — a video
  12. fall — the season
  13. capital — a city
  14. fall — to drop
  15. fall — to drop
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. game — wild animals
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bank — for money
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. bank — of a river

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