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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 116 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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. last — finally
  3. degree — an amount
  4. clip — to cut
  5. bat — the animal
  6. clip — for paper
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. band — a ring
  9. last — to go on
  10. degree — from a university
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. band — a music group
  13. clip — a video
  14. degree — temperature
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. last — final

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