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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. kick — in football
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. hand — help
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. staff — employees
  7. clip — to cut
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. clip — a video
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. chair — a leader
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. staff — a stick
  15. rule — government
  16. hand — in cards
  17. staff — employees
  18. snap — to click
  19. rule — a law
  20. degree — an amount
  21. kick — a thrill
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. degree — temperature
  24. degree — from a university

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