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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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468
Word bank
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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. When will it ________________ you to start?
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. suit — to fit
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. last — final
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. suit — in cards
  7. last — finally
  8. content — happy
  9. clip — to cut
  10. degree — from a university
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. suit — clothes
  13. spell — magic
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. content — the amount
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. last — to go on
  18. spell — letters
  19. clip — a video
  20. kick — in football
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. degree — temperature
  23. spell — a short time
  24. clip — for paper

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