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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 120 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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. wound — an injury
  3. game — wild animals
  4. swing — to play on
  5. pop — soda
  6. game — a match
  7. fall — the season
  8. clip — for paper
  9. degree — from a university
  10. swing — in golf
  11. degree — temperature
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. clip — to cut
  15. fall — to drop
  16. clip — a video
  17. fall — to drop
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. pop — music
  20. pop — to visit
  21. degree — an amount
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. swing — music

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