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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. clip — for paper
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. clip — to cut
  5. last — to go on
  6. last — final
  7. land — a country
  8. wind — moving air
  9. capital — a city
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. last — finally
  12. hand — help
  13. date — the fruit
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. land — ground
  17. capital — money
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. land — to come down
  20. wind — moving air
  21. clip — a video
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. rush — hurry
  24. date — on the calendar

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