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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. degree — an amount
  5. chair — a leader
  6. sharp — clever
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. degree — temperature
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. fall — the season
  12. fall — to drop
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. march — the month
  15. degree — from a university
  16. clip — for paper
  17. march — music
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. wake — a trail
  21. fall — to drop
  22. march — the month
  23. clip — a video
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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