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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Where did you ________________ them?
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. last — finally
  3. capital — a city
  4. clip — for paper
  5. mug — to rob
  6. season — in sport
  7. clip — to cut
  8. last — final
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. deal — to handle
  11. mug — a cup
  12. bound — certain
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. field — for sport
  15. field — farmland
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. bound — tied together
  19. mug — a face
  20. capital — money
  21. season — of the year
  22. bound — obliged
  23. field — a subject
  24. clip — a video

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