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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. clip — a video
  4. clip — for paper
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. fork — in a road
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. court — of a king
  9. bear — the animal
  10. degree — temperature
  11. clip — to cut
  12. fine — all right
  13. court — for sport
  14. degree — from a university
  15. cell — a phone
  16. sharp — clever
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. court — of law
  19. degree — an amount
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. cell — in biology
  23. bear — the animal
  24. fork — a garden tool

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