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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. clip — to cut
  4. degree — temperature
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. clip — for paper
  7. can — a tin
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. game — a match
  10. march — music
  11. march — the month
  12. rest — a break
  13. degree — an amount
  14. rest — what's left
  15. can — to be able to
  16. rest — what's left
  17. can — a tin
  18. degree — from a university
  19. march — the month
  20. game — wild animals
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wind — moving air
  23. clip — a video
  24. coach — a trainer

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