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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. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. cell — a phone
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cell — in biology
  6. cold — not warm
  7. clip — to cut
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. track — to keep track
  10. capital — money
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. capital — a city
  14. mouse — for a computer
  15. clip — a video
  16. charge — electricity
  17. clip — for paper
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. charge — in control
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. track — a song
  24. track — a path

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