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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. snap — to click
  3. season — of the year
  4. capital — a city
  5. pop — to visit
  6. wound — an injury
  7. clip — for paper
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. object — to protest
  10. object — a thing
  11. pop — soda
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. object — an aim
  14. wound — an injury
  15. clip — a video
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. clip — to cut
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. ball — a dance
  21. season — in sport
  22. ball — a great time
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. pop — music

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