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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 116 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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. ball — a dance
  3. ball — a great time
  4. degree — an amount
  5. net — in sport
  6. degree — from a university
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. clip — to cut
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. wake — a trail
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. clip — for paper
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. degree — temperature
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. net — after costs
  21. kick — in football
  22. net — for catching
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. clip — a video

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