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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. fall — to drop
  3. clip — a video
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. race — humankind
  6. race — a contest
  7. clip — for paper
  8. capital — a city
  9. fall — the season
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. fall — to drop
  15. mine — for digging
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. clip — to cut
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. perch — the fish
  21. race — the arms race
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. patient — a sick person

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