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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. game — wild animals
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. track — a song
  7. clip — a video
  8. net — for catching
  9. track — a path
  10. prune — to trim
  11. net — after costs
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. last — to go on
  14. game — a match
  15. prune — to trim
  16. capital — money
  17. clip — for paper
  18. last — final
  19. clip — to cut
  20. last — finally
  21. capital — a city
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. pitch — completely
  24. net — in sport

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