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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. degree — an amount
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. file — a tool
  6. current — of water
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. current — electric
  9. band — a ring
  10. band — a music group
  11. degree — temperature
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. clip — to cut
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. roll — a list
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. roll — a cake
  20. clip — for paper
  21. current — happening now
  22. file — a line of people
  23. degree — from a university
  24. file — a document

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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