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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. net — after costs
  3. band — a ring
  4. net — in sport
  5. capital — money
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. clip — to cut
  8. court — for sport
  9. court — of law
  10. chair — a leader
  11. capital — a city
  12. net — for catching
  13. charge — a price
  14. clip — for paper
  15. object — to protest
  16. object — a thing
  17. band — a music group
  18. charge — in control
  19. clip — a video
  20. object — an aim
  21. court — of a king
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. chair — to sit on

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