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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. last — final
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. clip — for paper
  5. degree — an amount
  6. degree — temperature
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. clip — to cut
  10. last — finally
  11. ground — the earth
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. last — to go on
  14. bank — of a river
  15. plane — a tool
  16. degree — from a university
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. bank — for money
  21. bank — for money
  22. ground — a position
  23. clip — a video
  24. plane — in geometry

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