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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. kid — child
  3. clip — to cut
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. capital — a city
  7. hand — help
  8. mark — a trace
  9. clip — for paper
  10. race — a contest
  11. capital — money
  12. race — the arms race
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. hand — in cards
  15. clip — a video
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. mark — a grade
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. kid — to tease

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