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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: can · chest · march · mate · file · clip · rock · capital

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. clip — a video
  3. mate — to breed
  4. mate — a friend
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. chest — of your body
  7. march — the month
  8. can — a tin
  9. march — music
  10. clip — for paper
  11. rock — music
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. file — a line of people
  14. rock — a stone
  15. can — to be able to
  16. file — a document
  17. capital — money
  18. can — a tin
  19. file — a tool
  20. clip — to cut
  21. chest — a box
  22. capital — a city
  23. mate — a partner
  24. chest — of your body

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