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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. capital — a city
  4. clip — to cut
  5. squash — to crush
  6. season — of the year
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — a video
  9. bore — to tire
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. pop — music
  12. pop — soda
  13. pop — to visit
  14. wound — an injury
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. bore — to drill
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. capital — money
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. season — in sport
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. squash — the sport

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