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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  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. clip — for paper
  3. chest — of your body
  4. clip — to cut
  5. capital — money
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. file — a line of people
  10. chest — a box
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. clip — a video
  13. date — the fruit
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. perch — the fish
  18. file — a tool
  19. toast — bread
  20. file — a document
  21. toast — the most admired
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. chest — of your body
  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