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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. mine — for digging
  3. season — of the year
  4. swing — music
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. swing — in golf
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. content — the amount
  10. degree — temperature
  11. bat — the animal
  12. clip — for paper
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. degree — an amount
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. degree — from a university
  18. swing — to play on
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. clip — a video
  21. season — in sport
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. content — happy
  24. content — videos and posts

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