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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. clip — to cut
  3. firm — decided
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. ground — a position
  6. degree — temperature
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. clip — a video
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. rash — a series
  12. perch — the fish
  13. fork — in a road
  14. clip — for paper
  15. capital — money
  16. capital — a city
  17. firm — steady
  18. ground — the earth
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. rash — hasty
  21. degree — from a university
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. ground — crushed
  24. firm — a company

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