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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. scale — size or range
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. kid — to tease
  5. fine — high quality
  6. degree — an amount
  7. march — music
  8. bulb — for light
  9. kid — child
  10. clip — a video
  11. march — the month
  12. fine — all right
  13. degree — from a university
  14. clip — for paper
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. degree — temperature
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. scale — in music
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. bulb — for light
  23. snap — to click
  24. march — the month

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