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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. bat — the animal
  3. degree — an amount
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. degree — temperature
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. clip — to cut
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. tube — a container
  11. tube — the underground
  12. clip — a video
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. degree — from a university
  15. clip — for paper
  16. fork — in a road
  17. cold — not warm
  18. can — to be able to
  19. can — a tin
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. can — a tin
  24. bat — for baseball

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