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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 124 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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. spell — a short time
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. capital — a city
  5. spell — magic
  6. pound — a weight
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. cap — a hat
  9. wound — an injury
  10. cap — a lid
  11. cap — of ice
  12. fall — to drop
  13. wound — an injury
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. clip — to cut
  16. spell — letters
  17. fall — to drop
  18. rock — a stone
  19. capital — money
  20. rock — music
  21. clip — for paper
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. fall — the season
  24. clip — a video

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