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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: fall · file · swing · clip · capital · race

  1. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. swing — to play on
  3. capital — money
  4. file — a line of people
  5. race — the arms race
  6. race — a contest
  7. fall — to drop
  8. clip — to cut
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — for paper
  12. fall — to drop
  13. file — a document
  14. race — humankind
  15. capital — a city
  16. file — a tool
  17. fall — the season
  18. swing — music

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