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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. capital — a city
  4. ground — the earth
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pop — to visit
  7. ground — a position
  8. pop — soda
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. rush — hurry
  12. file — a tool
  13. file — a line of people
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. clip — a video
  16. capital — money
  17. ground — crushed
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. pop — music
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. file — a document
  24. clip — for paper

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