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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. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. bat — the animal
  3. rule — government
  4. clip — for paper
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. clip — to cut
  7. rule — a law
  8. clip — a video
  9. degree — an amount
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. net — in sport
  12. degree — from a university
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. degree — temperature
  15. net — after costs
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. net — for catching

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