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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. Did you ________________ the button?
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. cold — not warm
  3. kid — to tease
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. rash — a series
  7. clip — to cut
  8. press — a publisher
  9. capital — money
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. cold — an illness
  14. clip — for paper
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. kid — child
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. press — newspapers
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. press — to push
  21. capital — a city
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. clip — a video

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