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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. capital — a city
  6. land — a country
  7. race — humankind
  8. clip — a video
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bore — to tire
  11. land — ground
  12. capital — money
  13. race — a contest
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. race — the arms race
  16. fork — in a road
  17. clip — to cut
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bore — to drill
  20. land — to come down
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. cold — not warm
  23. clip — for paper
  24. rush — hurry

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