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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. key — for a lock
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. capital — money
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. face — to confront
  10. key — the most important part
  11. tear — to rip
  12. key — in music
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. capital — a city
  15. date — the fruit
  16. face — to point toward
  17. tear — from crying
  18. clip — a video
  19. face — part of the head
  20. tear — from crying
  21. clip — for paper
  22. hand — in cards
  23. hand — help
  24. date — on the calendar

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