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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. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. present — a gift
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. degree — an amount
  6. clip — for paper
  7. mine — for digging
  8. bat — the animal
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — to trim
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. present — the time now
  18. clip — to cut
  19. present — there
  20. degree — from a university
  21. clip — a video
  22. bear — the animal
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. mine — an explosive

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