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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. capital — a city
  4. stand — to bear
  5. rash — a series
  6. rash — hasty
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. clip — to cut
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. bat — the animal
  12. clip — a video
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. wax — to grow
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. squash — the sport
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. clip — for paper
  23. squash — to crush
  24. hide — animal skin

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