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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. clip — to cut
  3. saw — the tool
  4. lean — to bend
  5. present — a gift
  6. saw — the tool
  7. key — the most important part
  8. present — the time now
  9. swing — to play on
  10. clip — for paper
  11. lean — thin
  12. clip — a video
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a city
  15. key — in music
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. last — final
  19. last — to go on
  20. present — there
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. key — for a lock
  23. swing — in golf
  24. swing — 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