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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. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Where can I ________________ my mobile?

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. clip — for paper
  4. shower — to wash
  5. pass — a permit
  6. clip — to cut
  7. charge — in control
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — in cards
  10. pass — to spend time
  11. scale — size or range
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. capital — a city
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. wake — a trail
  17. clip — a video
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. hand — help
  20. scale — in music
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. capital — money
  24. charge — electricity

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