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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. last — to go on
  4. present — the time now
  5. clip — to cut
  6. capital — a city
  7. foot — the bottom
  8. present — there
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. capital — money
  13. clip — a video
  14. last — final
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. clip — for paper
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. last — finally
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. present — a gift
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. cold — not warm
  23. foot — a measure
  24. foot — part of the body

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