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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. My mare is ________________ in color.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  13. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. bay — a horse colour
  4. court — for sport
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. mine — for digging
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bark — to shout
  9. clip — to cut
  10. court — of law
  11. court — of a king
  12. cue — a signal
  13. cue — a hint
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. clip — a video
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. bay — a part of the sea
  21. cue — for pool
  22. wind — moving air
  23. capital — a city
  24. wind — moving air

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