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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: pit · file · trunk · key · march · clip · cold · capital

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. pit — a hole
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. file — a document
  5. clip — a video
  6. capital — a city
  7. march — the month
  8. key — the most important part
  9. pit — in a race
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. cold — not warm
  17. key — for a lock
  18. file — a line of people
  19. clip — to cut
  20. clip — for paper
  21. cold — an illness
  22. file — a tool
  23. march — the month
  24. key — in music

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