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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. field — a subject
  3. rule — a law
  4. mine — for digging
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. cap — a hat
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. cap — a lid
  9. clip — a video
  10. rush — hurry
  11. rule — government
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. bass — the fish
  14. field — farmland
  15. clip — to cut
  16. bass — low music
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. capital — a city
  19. field — for sport
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. capital — money
  24. clip — for paper

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