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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. capital — money
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. clip — for paper
  6. march — music
  7. march — the month
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. shower — rain
  15. shower — to wash
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. march — the month
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. capital — a city
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — to cut

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