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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. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. clip — for paper
  3. band — a ring
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wound — an injury
  7. clip — a video
  8. wound — an injury
  9. fine — high quality
  10. clip — to cut
  11. degree — temperature
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. fork — in a road
  15. cold — an illness
  16. fine — all right
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. band — a music group
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. degree — from a university
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. degree — an amount

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