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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  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. degree — from a university
  3. degree — temperature
  4. shower — to wash
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. present — the time now
  7. spell — letters
  8. spell — magic
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. shower — rain
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. degree — an amount
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. present — a gift
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. saw — the tool
  17. pitch — completely
  18. chair — a leader
  19. clip — a video
  20. present — there
  21. spell — a short time
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. clip — for paper
  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