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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: clip · date · bay · cold · safe · prune · capital · stick

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. My mare is ________________ in color.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  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. capital — a city
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — a video
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. bay — a horse colour
  7. prune — to trim
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. safe — a strongbox
  11. cold — not warm
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. capital — money
  14. prune — to trim
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. cold — an illness
  17. safe — out of danger
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. safe — out of danger
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. date — the fruit
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. capital — a big letter
  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