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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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: clip · tear · board · shower · craft · spell · cold · capital

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. board — a committee
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cold — not warm
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. board — to get on
  8. tear — to rip
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — to cut
  11. spell — a short time
  12. tear — from crying
  13. spell — magic
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. craft — boats
  16. shower — rain
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. clip — for paper
  19. shower — to wash
  20. cold — an illness
  21. capital — a city
  22. capital — money
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. craft — a skill

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