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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 116 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. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. fall — to drop
  4. race — a contest
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. game — a match
  7. fall — to drop
  8. clip — a video
  9. race — the arms race
  10. game — wild animals
  11. race — humankind
  12. court — of a king
  13. capital — a city
  14. capital — money
  15. file — a tool
  16. file — a line of people
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — to cut
  20. court — of law
  21. court — for sport
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. fall — the season

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