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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. I can't ________________ this cold.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. chest — of your body
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. clip — for paper
  6. clip — to cut
  7. bound — tied together
  8. tear — from crying
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. chest — of your body
  11. clip — a video
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. tear — from crying
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. chest — a box
  16. capital — money
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. mine — for digging
  20. stand — to bear
  21. bound — obliged
  22. tear — to rip
  23. capital — a city
  24. stand — on your feet

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