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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. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. clip — to cut
  3. face — to confront
  4. bore — to drill
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. court — for sport
  8. court — of a king
  9. capital — money
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. court — of law
  14. bore — to tire
  15. capital — a city
  16. cold — an illness
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. cold — not warm
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. face — to point toward
  21. clip — a video
  22. face — part of the head
  23. clip — for paper
  24. rush — hurry

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