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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. clip — a video
  3. content — happy
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. season — of the year
  6. degree — from a university
  7. wind — moving air
  8. degree — temperature
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. content — the amount
  13. clip — for paper
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. season — in sport
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. clip — to cut
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. capital — money
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. degree — an amount
  24. leaves — to go away

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