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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. fine — all right
  3. club — for dancing
  4. band — a ring
  5. clip — a video
  6. rush — hurry
  7. degree — an amount
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — for paper
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. club — a group
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. club — for golf
  16. fine — high quality
  17. degree — temperature
  18. degree — from a university
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. band — a music group
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. mine — for digging
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. hand — help

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