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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. fine — a penalty
  3. fine — all right
  4. drill — the tool
  5. fine — high quality
  6. capital — money
  7. cold — not warm
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. clip — for paper
  11. foot — a measure
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. cold — an illness
  15. drill — a practice
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. clip — a video
  19. drill — army training
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. capital — a city
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. foot — the bottom

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