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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. degree — an amount
  3. degree — from a university
  4. game — wild animals
  5. mate — to breed
  6. press — newspapers
  7. bat — the animal
  8. pass — to spend time
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. degree — temperature
  11. mate — a partner
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. press — to push
  14. clip — to cut
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. clip — for paper
  17. pass — a permit
  18. clip — a video
  19. press — a publisher
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. game — a match
  22. mate — a friend
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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