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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. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — to spread on bread
  2. ground — a position
  3. mark — a trace
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. spell — letters
  7. ground — the earth
  8. clip — a video
  9. spell — magic
  10. spell — a short time
  11. ground — crushed
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. jam — in traffic
  14. dip — to sink
  15. capital — money
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. clip — to cut
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. capital — a city
  20. jam — a tight spot
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. clip — for paper
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. mark — a grade

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