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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. clip — a video
  4. rule — a law
  5. clip — for paper
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. saw — the tool
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. bark — to shout
  14. clip — to cut
  15. capital — a city
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. capital — money
  18. prune — to trim
  19. prune — to trim
  20. saw — the tool
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. arm — a part of something

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