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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. The tickets are free of ________________.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. clip — to cut
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. degree — temperature
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. degree — from a university
  7. clip — for paper
  8. root — of a word
  9. charge — a price
  10. mate — a friend
  11. degree — an amount
  12. race — humankind
  13. race — a contest
  14. mate — a partner
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. charge — electricity
  17. clip — a video
  18. charge — in control
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. root — of a plant
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. race — the arms race
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. root — the cause

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