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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. clip — a video
  3. race — the arms race
  4. clip — for paper
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. pass — to succeed
  8. degree — from a university
  9. game — a match
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. squash — to crush
  12. spring — of water
  13. race — a contest
  14. squash — the sport
  15. spring — the season
  16. degree — temperature
  17. pass — a permit
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. degree — an amount
  20. game — wild animals
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. race — humankind
  23. clip — to cut
  24. pass — to spend time

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