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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  17. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. present — there
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. charge — a price
  5. clip — a video
  6. clip — to cut
  7. band — a ring
  8. last — finally
  9. land — a country
  10. last — final
  11. present — the time now
  12. last — to go on
  13. charge — electricity
  14. capital — money
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. lie — to recline
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. charge — in control
  19. band — a music group
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. land — ground
  22. clip — for paper
  23. present — a gift
  24. land — to come down

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