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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  8. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. jam — in traffic
  3. capital — a city
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. cap — of ice
  6. capital — money
  7. vault — a safe
  8. jam — to spread on bread
  9. track — to keep track
  10. cap — a hat
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. fall — to drop
  13. fall — the season
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. cold — an illness
  16. track — a path
  17. track — a song
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — for paper
  20. jam — a tight spot
  21. cold — not warm
  22. clip — to cut
  23. fall — to drop
  24. cold — the Cold War

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