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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. degree — temperature
  3. bound — obliged
  4. prune — to trim
  5. row — to paddle
  6. clip — a video
  7. row — a line
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. land — to come down
  10. land — ground
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bound — tied together
  16. bound — certain
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. degree — an amount
  19. clip — to cut
  20. degree — from a university
  21. wind — moving air
  22. prune — to trim
  23. wind — moving air
  24. row — a quarrel

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