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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. track — a path
  3. track — a song
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. cold — an illness
  6. clip — for paper
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. capital — a city
  9. net — in sport
  10. clip — to cut
  11. net — after costs
  12. clip — a video
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. rock — music
  15. net — for catching
  16. capital — money
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. charge — in control
  19. charge — electricity
  20. rock — a stone
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. cold — not warm
  24. charge — a price

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