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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. plane — a tool
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. last — finally
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. row — a line
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. degree — temperature
  10. degree — an amount
  11. clip — to cut
  12. last — final
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. clip — for paper
  18. snap — to click
  19. clip — a video
  20. degree — from a university
  21. row — to paddle
  22. pitch — completely
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. plane — an aircraft

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