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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 120 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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. bass — the fish
  3. tube — a container
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. clip — a video
  7. bass — low music
  8. capital — money
  9. scale — in music
  10. tube — the underground
  11. scale — size or range
  12. capital — a city
  13. season — of the year
  14. clip — for paper
  15. track — a path
  16. clip — to cut
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. track — to keep track
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. pound — a weight
  21. track — a song
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. season — in sport
  24. scale — for weighing

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