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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. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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. cue — a signal
  2. clip — for paper
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. capital — money
  5. cold — not warm
  6. capital — a city
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. bound — obliged
  9. spell — magic
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. clip — a video
  12. bound — tied together
  13. spell — a short time
  14. bound — certain
  15. clip — to cut
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. bass — low music
  18. cue — a hint
  19. spell — letters
  20. cue — for pool
  21. bass — the fish
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. cold — an illness
  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