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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — a trail
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. clip — for paper
  5. pass — a permit
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. degree — an amount
  9. degree — from a university
  10. game — a match
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. degree — temperature
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — a video
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. fork — in a road
  18. game — wild animals

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