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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 120 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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. fall — to drop
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. ground — crushed
  6. craft — a skill
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. craft — boats
  10. cell — a phone
  11. plane — a tool
  12. clip — for paper
  13. ground — the earth
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. clip — a video
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. fall — the season
  19. pound — a weight
  20. capital — money
  21. ground — a position
  22. clip — to cut
  23. fall — to drop
  24. cell — in biology

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