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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The tickets are free of ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. capital — a city
  3. clip — to cut
  4. last — to go on
  5. ball — a dance
  6. wind — moving air
  7. clip — a video
  8. charge — a price
  9. fall — to drop
  10. capital — money
  11. charge — in control
  12. last — final
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. last — finally
  15. charge — electricity
  16. bat — the animal
  17. fall — to drop
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. ball — a great time
  20. clip — for paper
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. wind — moving air
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — in an idiom

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