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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  14. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. rush — hurry
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. firm — decided
  6. clip — to cut
  7. net — in sport
  8. march — the month
  9. degree — from a university
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. clip — a video
  12. degree — temperature
  13. firm — steady
  14. firm — a company
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. march — music
  17. net — for catching
  18. bat — the animal
  19. net — after costs
  20. march — the month
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. clip — for paper
  23. degree — an amount
  24. rush — a thrill

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