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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. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. field — for sport
  3. cap — a lid
  4. clip — for paper
  5. drill — a practice
  6. capital — money
  7. capital — a city
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. drill — the tool
  10. current — happening now
  11. clip — to cut
  12. field — a subject
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. cap — a hat
  15. current — electric
  16. cap — of ice
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. field — farmland
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. drill — army training
  21. clip — a video
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. current — of water
  24. wax — to grow

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