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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. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. clip — for paper
  3. swing — to play on
  4. clip — to cut
  5. capital — money
  6. wind — moving air
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. fall — the season
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. wind — moving air
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. ground — a position
  16. ground — crushed
  17. fall — to drop
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. clip — a video
  20. swing — music
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. swing — in golf
  23. ground — the earth
  24. capital — a city

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