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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 cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  2. When will it ________________ you to start?
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — clothes
  2. suit — to fit
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. suit — in cards
  6. cold — an illness
  7. clip — a video
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. degree — temperature
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. degree — from a university
  13. branch — a division
  14. degree — an amount
  15. clip — for paper
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. bass — low music
  18. last — finally
  19. cold — not warm
  20. last — final
  21. last — to go on
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. clip — to cut
  24. bass — the fish

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