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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. My mare is ________________ in color.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. cue — a signal
  3. last — final
  4. clip — a video
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. clip — for paper
  9. last — to go on
  10. capital — a city
  11. roll — a cake
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. row — a line
  14. last — finally
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. bark — to shout
  17. clip — to cut
  18. capital — money
  19. roll — a list
  20. cue — a hint
  21. row — to paddle
  22. cue — for pool
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. bay — a horse colour

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