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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 116 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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. degree — an amount
  3. band — a ring
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. march — music
  6. current — electric
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. rush — hurry
  9. march — the month
  10. degree — from a university
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. clip — a video
  13. march — the month
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — for paper
  17. wound — an injury
  18. scale — size or range
  19. current — happening now
  20. scale — in music
  21. current — of water
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. degree — temperature
  24. band — a music group

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