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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 120 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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. press — to push
  4. drill — army training
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. press — a publisher
  7. capital — a city
  8. cold — an illness
  9. press — newspapers
  10. current — of water
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. drill — the tool
  13. capital — money
  14. tube — a container
  15. drill — a practice
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. clip — a video
  18. current — electric
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. clip — to cut
  21. tube — the underground
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. current — happening now

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