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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: track · clip · prune · capital · bore · rule · ball · cold

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. clip — to cut
  3. capital — money
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bore — to drill
  6. rule — a law
  7. bore — to tire
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. cold — not warm
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. rule — government
  12. track — to keep track
  13. capital — a city
  14. track — a song
  15. prune — to trim
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. prune — to trim
  18. ball — a dance
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. ball — a great time
  21. clip — a video
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. clip — for paper

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