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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. staff — a stick
  3. degree — from a university
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. march — music
  6. degree — an amount
  7. net — after costs
  8. scale — size or range
  9. tear — to rip
  10. march — the month
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cell — in biology
  13. degree — temperature
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — from crying
  16. clip — a video
  17. scale — in music
  18. net — in sport
  19. march — the month
  20. staff — employees
  21. clip — for paper
  22. staff — employees
  23. net — for catching
  24. scale — for weighing

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