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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 120 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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: game · capital · face · current · clip · land · bulb · chair

  1. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. land — ground
  3. current — of water
  4. capital — money
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. bulb — for light
  7. game — wild animals
  8. face — to point toward
  9. land — a country
  10. clip — for paper
  11. face — part of the head
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. capital — a city
  14. land — to come down
  15. chair — a leader
  16. game — a match
  17. face — to confront
  18. clip — to cut
  19. bulb — for light
  20. current — electric
  21. clip — a video
  22. current — happening now
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. capital — a big letter

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