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

Word bank: present · wind · club · clip · fork · capital · chair · pop

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. pop — soda
  4. present — the time now
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. club — for dancing
  8. chair — a leader
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. capital — money
  11. present — a gift
  12. capital — a city
  13. pop — to visit
  14. wind — moving air
  15. club — a group
  16. clip — for paper
  17. wind — moving air
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. clip — to cut
  21. clip — a video
  22. present — there
  23. fork — in a road
  24. club — for golf

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