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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 116 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. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. rash — hasty
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. can — a tin
  5. staff — a stick
  6. rash — a series
  7. staff — employees
  8. hand — in cards
  9. can — a tin
  10. clip — a video
  11. hand — help
  12. drill — a practice
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. capital — money
  15. drill — army training
  16. track — a path
  17. drill — the tool
  18. clip — for paper
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. track — to keep track
  22. track — a song
  23. can — to be able to
  24. staff — employees

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