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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. pop — music
  5. rash — hasty
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. clip — for paper
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. rash — a series
  11. capital — a city
  12. degree — temperature
  13. row — a line
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pop — to visit
  16. foot — a measure
  17. pop — soda
  18. clip — a video
  19. capital — money
  20. degree — from a university
  21. row — to paddle
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. bat — the animal

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