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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. key — the most important part
  5. clip — a video
  6. key — for a lock
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. foot — a measure
  10. rash — a series
  11. clip — for paper
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. key — in music
  14. land — to come down
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. capital — a city
  19. rash — hasty
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bark — to shout
  22. land — a country
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. capital — money

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