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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: sharp · clip · race · rest · capital · cold · chest · bound

  1. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. cold — an illness
  3. bound — certain
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bound — obliged
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. race — humankind
  8. bound — tied together
  9. rest — a break
  10. chest — a box
  11. capital — money
  12. clip — a video
  13. race — a contest
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. clip — to cut
  16. cold — not warm
  17. rest — what's left
  18. chest — of your body
  19. sharp — clever
  20. clip — for paper
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. chest — of your body
  23. race — the arms race
  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