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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 · stick · race · chair · roll · hide · capital · shower

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. clip — a video
  3. race — a contest
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. clip — to cut
  7. shower — to wash
  8. roll — a cake
  9. roll — a list
  10. chair — a leader
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. capital — a city
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. shower — rain
  16. race — humankind
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. race — the arms race
  20. clip — for paper
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. hide — to keep secret

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