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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. kid — to tease
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. kid — child
  5. capital — money
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. field — a subject
  9. race — humankind
  10. clip — to cut
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. lean — thin
  13. current — of water
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. current — electric
  16. race — a contest
  17. clip — a video
  18. lean — to bend
  19. field — farmland
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. race — the arms race
  22. capital — a city
  23. field — for sport
  24. current — happening now

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