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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. Where did you ________________ them?
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. capital — a city
  3. clip — for paper
  4. ball — a great time
  5. current — happening now
  6. race — humankind
  7. clip — to cut
  8. race — a contest
  9. mug — a cup
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. capital — money
  12. land — a country
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. clip — a video
  15. ball — a dance
  16. mug — to rob
  17. land — to come down
  18. mug — a face
  19. race — the arms race
  20. current — of water
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. current — electric

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