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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. fall — to drop
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. fall — to drop
  5. row — a line
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. fine — all right
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. capital — money
  11. fall — the season
  12. sharp — clever
  13. content — the amount
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. fine — high quality
  17. content — happy
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — to cut
  20. capital — a city
  21. row — to paddle
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. row — a quarrel

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