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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. march — music
  4. march — the month
  5. clip — to cut
  6. current — of water
  7. craft — a skill
  8. clip — a video
  9. current — electric
  10. lean — to bend
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. current — happening now
  13. hand — in cards
  14. hand — help
  15. clip — for paper
  16. degree — from a university
  17. saw — the tool
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. march — the month
  20. lean — thin
  21. craft — boats
  22. saw — the tool
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. degree — temperature

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