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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. ground — crushed
  5. game — wild animals
  6. degree — an amount
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. degree — from a university
  9. clip — for paper
  10. swing — in golf
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. cell — in biology
  13. game — a match
  14. cell — a phone
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. clip — to cut
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. swing — to play on
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. degree — temperature
  21. ground — the earth
  22. swing — music
  23. ground — a position
  24. trunk — of a tree

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