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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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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: cold · mine · leaves · hide · clip · capital · wake · chip

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. capital — money
  7. capital — a city
  8. mine — for digging
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — an illness
  11. wake — a trail
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. chip — for betting
  14. clip — for paper
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — a video
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. leaves — to go away

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