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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. spell — a short time
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. clip — a video
  6. lean — to bend
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. spell — magic
  9. clip — to cut
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. bore — to drill
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. spell — letters
  15. dip — to sink
  16. clip — for paper
  17. kick — in football
  18. lean — thin
  19. degree — temperature
  20. bore — to tire
  21. degree — from a university
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. fork — in a road

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