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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 116 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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. degree — from a university
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. degree — an amount
  6. season — in sport
  7. current — happening now
  8. snap — to click
  9. season — of the year
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — a video
  12. ground — a position
  13. content — happy
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. ground — the earth
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. ground — crushed
  18. lie — to recline
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. current — electric
  21. content — the amount
  22. degree — temperature
  23. clip — for paper
  24. current — of water

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