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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. When will it ________________ you to start?
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. clip — a video
  3. tube — the underground
  4. degree — an amount
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. degree — temperature
  11. field — a subject
  12. ball — a great time
  13. clip — to cut
  14. suit — in cards
  15. suit — clothes
  16. field — farmland
  17. clip — for paper
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. pitch — completely
  20. ball — a dance
  21. field — for sport
  22. suit — to fit
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. degree — from a university

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