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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. staff — employees
  3. capital — a city
  4. object — an aim
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. tear — to rip
  9. capital — money
  10. tear — from crying
  11. current — electric
  12. clip — for paper
  13. clip — to cut
  14. degree — from a university
  15. degree — an amount
  16. object — a thing
  17. staff — a stick
  18. clip — a video
  19. current — happening now
  20. degree — temperature
  21. staff — employees
  22. object — to protest
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. current — of water

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