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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: deal · rush · capital · mine · last · club · clip · ground

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. rush — hurry
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. last — to go on
  5. deal — to handle
  6. club — for dancing
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. capital — money
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. last — finally
  11. club — for golf
  12. club — a group
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. clip — for paper
  15. ground — the earth
  16. last — final
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. ground — crushed
  19. capital — a city
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. clip — a video
  23. mine — for digging
  24. clip — to cut

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