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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. clip — a video
  3. race — humankind
  4. race — a contest
  5. can — a tin
  6. can — to be able to
  7. last — finally
  8. last — to go on
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. tear — from crying
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. sharp — clever
  13. tear — to rip
  14. tear — from crying
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. capital — a city
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. can — a tin
  20. race — the arms race
  21. capital — money
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — to cut
  24. wave — of the sea

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