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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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. tear — from crying
  3. clip — a video
  4. tear — to rip
  5. ball — a great time
  6. clip — to cut
  7. ball — a dance
  8. march — the month
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. clip — for paper
  11. capital — money
  12. squash — the sport
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — a city
  16. march — music
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. tear — from crying
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. march — the month
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. straw — dry grass

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