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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. clip — to cut
  3. object — an aim
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. cold — not warm
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. shower — rain
  9. capital — a city
  10. wind — moving air
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. capital — money
  14. wind — moving air
  15. object — to protest
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. lean — thin
  18. lean — to bend
  19. clip — for paper
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. object — a thing
  22. cold — an illness
  23. shower — to wash
  24. clip — a video

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