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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pass — a permit
  5. court — of a king
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. wound — an injury
  8. face — part of the head
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. face — to confront
  11. clip — a video
  12. court — for sport
  13. clip — for paper
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. cold — an illness
  16. face — to point toward
  17. capital — a city
  18. race — a contest
  19. court — of law
  20. race — humankind
  21. race — the arms race
  22. capital — money
  23. clip — to cut
  24. capital — a big letter

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