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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cap — a hat
  5. spell — a short time
  6. spell — letters
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. clip — to cut
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. bank — for money
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. shower — rain
  13. bank — of a river
  14. cap — of ice
  15. shower — to wash
  16. capital — a city
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. clip — for paper
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. bank — for money
  22. spell — magic
  23. cap — a lid
  24. clip — a video

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