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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. hand — help
  3. season — of the year
  4. clip — a video
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. clip — to cut
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — money
  10. clip — for paper
  11. fall — the season
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. hand — in cards
  14. plane — a tool
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. shower — to wash
  19. fall — to drop
  20. pitch — completely
  21. fall — to drop
  22. season — in sport
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. shower — rain

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