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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. squash — to crush
  3. wake — a trail
  4. stock — goods
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. squash — the sport
  7. degree — from a university
  8. last — final
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. clip — for paper
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. cell — a phone
  13. chest — of your body
  14. last — to go on
  15. clip — to cut
  16. chest — a box
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. stock — shares
  19. chest — of your body
  20. degree — temperature
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. cell — in biology
  23. last — finally
  24. degree — an amount

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