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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. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. capital — a city
  3. clip — a video
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. bound — certain
  7. bound — tied together
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. wound — an injury
  10. ground — the earth
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. rest — what's left
  15. clip — for paper
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. rest — a break
  18. ground — crushed
  19. bound — obliged
  20. wound — an injury
  21. capital — money
  22. clip — to cut
  23. ground — a position
  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