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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cabinet — a cupboard
  3. capital — money
  4. scale — size or range
  5. clip — for paper
  6. clip — a video
  7. scale — in music
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. clip — to cut
  10. jam — to spread on bread
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. jam — in traffic
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. perch — the fish
  23. cold — not warm
  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