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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 116 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  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. degree — an amount
  2. object — a thing
  3. bear — the animal
  4. object — to protest
  5. degree — from a university
  6. club — for golf
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — from crying
  9. ground — crushed
  10. ground — a position
  11. tear — to rip
  12. club — a group
  13. spring — the season
  14. degree — temperature
  15. spring — a coil
  16. ground — the earth
  17. club — for dancing
  18. bear — the animal
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. clip — for paper
  21. clip — a video
  22. object — an aim
  23. spring — of water
  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