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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: capital · scale · cold · clip · rest · bulb · ground · pass

  1. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. The light ________________ burned out.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. ground — a position
  3. scale — size or range
  4. scale — in music
  5. clip — to cut
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. clip — a video
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. ground — crushed
  10. capital — a city
  11. rest — what's left
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. pass — to succeed
  15. bulb — for light
  16. cold — an illness
  17. ground — the earth
  18. capital — money
  19. clip — for paper
  20. rest — what's left
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. rest — a break
  24. bulb — for light

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