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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 124 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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. land — a country
  3. bass — low music
  4. clip — to cut
  5. clip — a video
  6. scale — in music
  7. degree — from a university
  8. scale — size or range
  9. pop — to visit
  10. clip — for paper
  11. land — ground
  12. cold — not warm
  13. key — in music
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. pop — soda
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. degree — temperature
  19. land — to come down
  20. key — for a lock
  21. degree — an amount
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. bass — the fish
  24. key — the most important part

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