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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. clip — a video
  4. rash — a series
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. capital — a city
  8. wax — to grow
  9. sharp — clever
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. capital — money
  13. cap — a lid
  14. perch — the fish
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cap — a hat
  18. clip — to cut
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. rash — hasty
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. cap — of ice
  24. kick — in football

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