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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. clip — for paper
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. track — to keep track
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. track — a song
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. capital — money
  14. clip — a video
  15. mine — for digging
  16. track — a path
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. capital — a city
  21. clip — to cut
  22. game — wild animals
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. leaves — of a tree

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