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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The tickets are free of ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. cold — not warm
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. can — a tin
  8. charge — electricity
  9. capital — money
  10. cell — a phone
  11. charge — a price
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. clip — a video
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. can — to be able to
  16. kick — in football
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. charge — in control
  21. pitch — completely
  22. can — a tin
  23. capital — a city
  24. cold — an illness

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