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

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. cap — a hat
  3. clip — a video
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. capital — money
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bass — low music
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. cap — a lid
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. clip — for paper
  17. bass — the fish
  18. cap — of ice

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