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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  6. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. scale — size or range
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. clip — a video
  5. firm — steady
  6. firm — decided
  7. race — a contest
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. clip — to cut
  10. club — for golf
  11. club — for dancing
  12. fork — in a road
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. scale — in music
  15. firm — a company
  16. race — the arms race
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. perch — the fish
  20. clip — for paper
  21. race — humankind
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. capital — money
  24. club — a group

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