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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 116 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. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. rest — what's left
  4. capital — money
  5. season — of the year
  6. capital — a city
  7. clip — a video
  8. kid — child
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. rest — a break
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. kid — to tease
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. root — the cause
  17. season — in sport
  18. cold — an illness
  19. branch — a division
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. root — of a word
  22. clip — for paper
  23. root — of a plant
  24. clip — to cut

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