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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 120 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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. degree — temperature
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. fall — to drop
  5. clip — a video
  6. kid — to tease
  7. game — a match
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. degree — an amount
  10. current — electric
  11. bat — the animal
  12. kid — child
  13. current — of water
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. degree — from a university
  17. clip — to cut
  18. rock — music
  19. current — happening now
  20. game — wild animals
  21. fall — the season
  22. clip — for paper
  23. rock — a stone
  24. fall — to drop

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