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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 124 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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. swing — in golf
  4. clip — for paper
  5. clip — to cut
  6. capital — a city
  7. band — a music group
  8. cold — an illness
  9. band — a ring
  10. land — to come down
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. clip — a video
  13. board — a committee
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. board — to get on
  16. swing — music
  17. land — a country
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. land — ground
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. cold — not warm
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. bay — to keep at bay
  24. capital — money

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