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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Where did you ________________ them?
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. root — of a plant
  3. cold — an illness
  4. mug — a face
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. degree — temperature
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. club — for dancing
  10. mine — for digging
  11. clip — to cut
  12. club — for golf
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. root — of a word
  16. root — the cause
  17. mug — a cup
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. club — a group
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — an amount
  22. clip — for paper
  23. mug — to rob
  24. clip — a video

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