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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 · mine · capital · cold · board · plane · mouse · shower

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. shower — to wash
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. cold — not warm
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. shower — rain
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. clip — a video
  11. cold — an illness
  12. mine — for digging
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. board — to get on
  18. clip — to cut
  19. board — a committee
  20. plane — a tool
  21. clip — for paper
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. capital — money
  24. capital — a city

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