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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. What do you think of the new ________________?
  18. When was this ________________ built?
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. rest — a break
  4. rest — what's left
  5. clip — a video
  6. clip — to cut
  7. wound — an injury
  8. scale — size or range
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. scale — in music
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. rest — what's left
  15. wound — an injury
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. capital — a city
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. snap — to click
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. capital — money

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