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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 120 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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. rush — hurry
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. shower — rain
  6. current — of water
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. current — electric
  9. clip — for paper
  10. season — in sport
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. capital — money
  13. track — a song
  14. clip — to cut
  15. current — happening now
  16. season — of the year
  17. shower — to wash
  18. clip — a video
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. capital — a city
  21. track — a path
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. track — to keep track

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