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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. land — ground
  3. degree — from a university
  4. land — to come down
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. race — a contest
  7. season — in sport
  8. clip — for paper
  9. race — humankind
  10. race — the arms race
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. season — of the year
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. clip — a video
  18. spring — the season
  19. spring — of water
  20. clip — to cut
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. degree — temperature
  23. land — a country
  24. spring — a coil

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