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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. clip — for paper
  3. capital — money
  4. clip — to cut
  5. pit — a hole
  6. spell — letters
  7. bulb — for light
  8. rest — what's left
  9. wind — moving air
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. wind — moving air
  12. pit — in a race
  13. bulb — for light
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. spell — a short time
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. rest — a break
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. spell — magic
  22. clip — a video
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. rest — what's left

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