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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. rest — a break
  5. mark — a trace
  6. prune — to trim
  7. rest — what's left
  8. roll — a cake
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. capital — a city
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. clip — to cut
  13. roll — a list
  14. bulb — for light
  15. prune — to trim
  16. bulb — for light
  17. capital — money
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. clip — for paper
  20. mark — a grade
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. rest — what's left
  23. clip — a video
  24. degree — temperature

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