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

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  22. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. capital — money
  3. race — a contest
  4. clip — for paper
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. degree — temperature
  10. pit — in a race
  11. race — humankind
  12. degree — from a university
  13. clip — a video
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. degree — an amount
  16. pit — a hole
  17. race — the arms race
  18. wound — an injury
  19. capital — a city
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. bay — a part of the sea
  22. bay — to keep at bay
  23. wound — an injury
  24. chair — a leader

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