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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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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: capital · roll · mine · hide · game · clip · pass · march

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. march — music
  3. capital — a city
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. clip — a video
  6. march — the month
  7. roll — a list
  8. march — the month
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. pass — a permit
  11. clip — to cut
  12. capital — money
  13. roll — a cake
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. game — wild animals
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. clip — for paper
  20. mine — for digging
  21. game — a match
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. hide — to keep secret

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