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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. ruler — for measuring
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. ruler — a monarch
  5. cold — an illness
  6. clip — for paper
  7. mate — a friend
  8. clip — a video
  9. capital — money
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. sharp — clever
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. cold — not warm
  16. content — the amount
  17. content — happy
  18. capital — a city
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. mate — to breed
  22. clip — to cut
  23. mate — a partner
  24. rule — a law

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