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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. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  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. wake — a trail
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. foot — part of the body
  4. cold — an illness
  5. branch — a division
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. capital — money
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. clip — for paper
  14. mark — a trace
  15. foot — a measure
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. clip — a video
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. capital — a city
  21. mark — a grade
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  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