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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: bark · scale · land · capital · sharp · clip · march · root

  1. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. scale — size or range
  3. march — music
  4. land — ground
  5. sharp — clever
  6. bark — to shout
  7. root — of a word
  8. clip — for paper
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. capital — a city
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. clip — to cut
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. root — of a plant
  17. capital — money
  18. march — the month
  19. march — the month
  20. land — to come down
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. land — a country
  23. clip — a video
  24. root — the cause

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