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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. clip — for paper
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. last — final
  6. capital — a city
  7. last — finally
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. stem — to come from
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. clip — to cut
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. bore — to tire
  14. clip — a video
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. wind — moving air
  17. row — a line
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. last — to go on
  20. capital — money
  21. wind — moving air
  22. bore — to drill
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. row — to paddle

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