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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. capital — a city
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. tear — from crying
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — a video
  7. clip — for paper
  8. date — the fruit
  9. file — a document
  10. drill — the tool
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. sharp — clever
  13. capital — money
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. drill — a practice
  16. drill — army training
  17. file — a tool
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. tear — from crying
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. tear — to rip
  22. file — a line of people
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. foot — a measure

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