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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. march — the month
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. can — to be able to
  7. clip — a video
  8. march — the month
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. cold — not warm
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. capital — a city
  15. can — a tin
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. clip — to cut
  18. capital — money
  19. can — a tin
  20. wax — to grow
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. march — music
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. cold — an illness

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