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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. craft — a skill
  3. degree — an amount
  4. clip — a video
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. clip — to cut
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. bark — to shout
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. land — to come down
  14. craft — boats
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. clip — for paper
  21. degree — temperature
  22. land — ground
  23. land — a country
  24. straw — a straw man

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