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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Where did you ________________ them?
  20. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. mug — a cup
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. degree — temperature
  6. march — the month
  7. march — the month
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cap — a lid
  10. clip — a video
  11. prune — to trim
  12. cap — a hat
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cap — of ice
  15. pitch — completely
  16. degree — from a university
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. cold — not warm
  19. mug — to rob
  20. mug — a face
  21. degree — an amount
  22. clip — for paper
  23. prune — to trim
  24. clip — to cut

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