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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. pit — a hole
  3. capital — money
  4. season — of the year
  5. club — for dancing
  6. clip — a video
  7. capital — a city
  8. clip — for paper
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. ground — crushed
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. ground — a position
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. season — in sport
  18. pit — in a race
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. club — a group
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. club — for golf
  23. clip — to cut
  24. ground — the earth

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