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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. clip — for paper
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. drill — a practice
  6. cell — in biology
  7. capital — a city
  8. bark — to shout
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. drill — army training
  11. spring — a coil
  12. chip — for betting
  13. clip — a video
  14. chip — to eat
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. drill — the tool
  17. spring — the season
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. clip — to cut
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. cell — a phone
  23. spring — of water
  24. capital — money

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