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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  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. degree — temperature
  2. clip — to cut
  3. chest — of your body
  4. scale — in music
  5. face — to point toward
  6. degree — from a university
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. spell — letters
  9. clip — for paper
  10. spell — magic
  11. chest — of your body
  12. spell — a short time
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. face — to confront
  16. chest — a box
  17. face — part of the head
  18. scale — size or range
  19. staff — employees
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. clip — a video
  22. staff — a stick
  23. staff — employees
  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