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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. race — a contest
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — from crying
  6. degree — from a university
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — to cut
  9. can — a tin
  10. clip — a video
  11. degree — an amount
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. can — a tin
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. deal — to handle
  17. can — to be able to
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. race — the arms race
  20. kick — in football
  21. degree — temperature
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. tear — to rip
  24. race — humankind

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