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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. capital — a city
  4. fall — the season
  5. clip — for paper
  6. pass — a permit
  7. prune — to trim
  8. pass — to succeed
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — to cut
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. kick — in football
  14. spring — of water
  15. capital — money
  16. spring — the season
  17. spring — a coil
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. fall — to drop
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. fall — to drop
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. capital — a big letter

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