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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 116 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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — moving air
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. chair — a leader
  10. clip — a video
  11. march — the month
  12. clip — for paper
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. march — music
  15. capital — money
  16. saw — the tool
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. march — the month
  19. capital — a city
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wound — an injury
  22. saw — the tool
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. chair — to sit on

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