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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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468
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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. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — a strongbox
  2. cold — not warm
  3. fall — to drop
  4. snap — to click
  5. cold — an illness
  6. fall — to drop
  7. season — in sport
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. clip — to cut
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. capital — money
  12. clip — for paper
  13. safe — out of danger
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. season — of the year
  19. clip — a video
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. fall — the season
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  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