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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. last — to go on
  3. capital — a city
  4. staff — employees
  5. content — the amount
  6. capital — money
  7. staff — a stick
  8. clip — a video
  9. track — a song
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. clip — to cut
  12. last — finally
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. track — to keep track
  17. track — a path
  18. cold — not warm
  19. clip — for paper
  20. hand — in cards
  21. last — final
  22. hand — help
  23. staff — employees
  24. content — happy

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