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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 120 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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. clip — a video
  3. track — to keep track
  4. spring — the season
  5. clip — to cut
  6. drill — the tool
  7. track — a song
  8. file — a line of people
  9. spring — of water
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. drill — a practice
  13. staff — employees
  14. staff — employees
  15. bark — to shout
  16. drill — army training
  17. capital — a city
  18. clip — for paper
  19. spring — a coil
  20. staff — a stick
  21. track — a path
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a tool
  24. capital — a big letter

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