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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 120 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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  11. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  12. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. safe — out of danger
  4. capital — a city
  5. clip — a video
  6. file — a document
  7. game — wild animals
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. firm — a company
  11. safe — a strongbox
  12. safe — out of danger
  13. cold — an illness
  14. firm — steady
  15. capital — money
  16. file — a tool
  17. file — a line of people
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. clip — to cut
  20. firm — decided
  21. cold — not warm
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. game — a match

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