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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. degree — an amount
  6. club — a group
  7. degree — temperature
  8. clip — a video
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. clip — for paper
  11. club — for golf
  12. prune — to trim
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cell — in biology
  15. prune — to trim
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. degree — from a university
  18. saw — the tool
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. club — for dancing
  21. season — of the year
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. season — in sport
  24. saw — the tool

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