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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 124 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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. game — wild animals
  3. hand — help
  4. clip — to cut
  5. clip — a video
  6. perch — the fish
  7. capital — money
  8. game — a match
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. pit — in a race
  13. pit — a hole
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. hand — in cards
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. clip — for paper
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. perch — for a bird

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