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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 felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. ground — a position
  3. ground — crushed
  4. capital — a city
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. ground — the earth
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. tear — from crying
  9. lash — an eyelash
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. tear — to rip
  12. clip — for paper
  13. capital — money
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. clip — to cut
  16. craft — a skill
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. chair — a leader
  19. court — for sport
  20. court — of law
  21. craft — boats
  22. court — of a king
  23. clip — a video
  24. tear — from crying

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