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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. The ________________ went through the wall.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. capital — a city
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. cold — an illness
  8. clip — a video
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. cold — not warm
  11. clip — for paper
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. dip — to sink
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. clip — to cut
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. spell — magic
  21. spell — letters
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. capital — money
  24. cold — the Cold War

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