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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. When was this ________________ built?
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. ground — a position
  3. kid — to tease
  4. capital — a city
  5. kid — child
  6. current — electric
  7. clip — for paper
  8. current — of water
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. chest — of your body
  11. clip — a video
  12. dip — to sink
  13. capital — money
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. ground — the earth
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. ground — crushed
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. chest — a box
  22. chest — of your body
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. clip — to cut

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