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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. Where did you ________________ them?
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. clip — a video
  3. mug — a cup
  4. spring — the season
  5. capital — money
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. race — a contest
  10. tube — a container
  11. tube — the underground
  12. fall — to drop
  13. capital — a city
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. clip — to cut
  16. cold — not warm
  17. race — the arms race
  18. fall — the season
  19. mug — a face
  20. race — humankind
  21. spring — a coil
  22. fall — to drop
  23. mug — to rob
  24. spring — of water

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