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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. rest — what's left
  4. clip — to cut
  5. spring — the season
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. branch — a division
  8. degree — an amount
  9. rest — what's left
  10. capital — a city
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. rest — a break
  14. chair — a leader
  15. clip — for paper
  16. spring — a coil
  17. degree — temperature
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. degree — from a university
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. spring — of water
  22. clip — a video
  23. pound — a weight
  24. chair — a professorship

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