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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. kick — in football
  3. capital — money
  4. chair — a leader
  5. capital — a city
  6. key — for a lock
  7. key — the most important part
  8. scale — size or range
  9. court — of law
  10. clip — a video
  11. bulb — for light
  12. court — of a king
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. clip — for paper
  16. clip — to cut
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. bulb — for light
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. court — for sport
  22. key — in music
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. scale — in music

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