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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 room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  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. pitch — completely
  2. capital — a city
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. swing — in golf
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. clip — to cut
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. fall — to drop
  9. race — a contest
  10. clip — a video
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. swing — to play on
  13. file — a line of people
  14. file — a tool
  15. capital — money
  16. race — the arms race
  17. race — humankind
  18. fall — to drop
  19. swing — music
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. file — a document
  23. fall — the season
  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