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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Where did you ________________ them?
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. capital — money
  5. mug — to rob
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. track — a path
  10. clip — to cut
  11. wax — to grow
  12. field — for sport
  13. field — farmland
  14. clip — for paper
  15. mug — a cup
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. track — a song
  18. wake — a trail
  19. field — a subject
  20. mug — a face
  21. capital — a city
  22. track — to keep track
  23. sharp — clever
  24. wax — in the ear

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