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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. clip — for paper
  3. present — the time now
  4. clip — to cut
  5. capital — money
  6. clip — a video
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. season — in sport
  10. present — there
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. bass — low music
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. rock — a stone
  15. rock — music
  16. file — a tool
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. file — a document
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. capital — a city
  21. file — a line of people
  22. bass — the fish
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. season — of the year

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