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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 124 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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. cold — an illness
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. cold — not warm
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. bass — the fish
  8. clip — a video
  9. capital — money
  10. lean — to bend
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. wound — an injury
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. wound — an injury
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. clip — for paper
  20. bass — low music
  21. lean — thin
  22. capital — a city
  23. rush — hurry
  24. nail — for a hammer

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