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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. clip — a video
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. pitch — completely
  6. clip — for paper
  7. object — to protest
  8. kid — to tease
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. capital — a city
  11. kid — child
  12. clip — to cut
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. capital — money
  15. scale — in music
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. object — an aim
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. scale — size or range
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. wax — to grow
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. rash — a series
  24. object — a thing

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