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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 116 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: drill · march · sharp · tear · rush · capital · pitch · clip

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. capital — a city
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. capital — money
  7. clip — a video
  8. sharp — clever
  9. clip — to cut
  10. drill — army training
  11. tear — from crying
  12. march — the month
  13. march — music
  14. drill — the tool
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. pitch — completely
  17. tear — to rip
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. drill — a practice
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. rush — hurry
  22. tear — from crying
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. march — the month

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