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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. race — humankind
  4. clip — a video
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. band — a ring
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. present — a gift
  9. lie — to recline
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. race — a contest
  12. clip — to cut
  13. file — a tool
  14. capital — money
  15. present — the time now
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. file — a document
  18. present — there
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. band — a music group
  21. clip — for paper
  22. capital — a city
  23. race — the arms race
  24. file — a line of people

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