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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  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. clip — for paper
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. band — a music group
  6. race — the arms race
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. season — in sport
  9. capital — money
  10. band — a ring
  11. prune — to trim
  12. hand — help
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. hand — in cards
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. season — of the year
  17. wound — an injury
  18. prune — to trim
  19. clip — a video
  20. race — a contest
  21. capital — a city
  22. race — humankind
  23. wound — an injury
  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