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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Where did you ________________ them?
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. wake — a trail
  3. pop — soda
  4. cold — an illness
  5. capital — a city
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cap — a hat
  8. cap — of ice
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. kid — to tease
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. pop — to visit
  13. cap — a lid
  14. clip — for paper
  15. mug — to rob
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. clip — a video
  18. mug — a cup
  19. capital — money
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. clip — to cut
  22. mug — a face
  23. kid — child
  24. capital — a big letter

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