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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. fall — to drop
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. race — humankind
  5. game — wild animals
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. clip — for paper
  8. spell — letters
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. fall — the season
  11. race — the arms race
  12. fall — to drop
  13. stock — shares
  14. stock — goods
  15. spell — magic
  16. can — to be able to
  17. clip — a video
  18. game — a match
  19. clip — to cut
  20. spell — a short time
  21. capital — money
  22. can — a tin
  23. can — a tin
  24. race — a contest

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