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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. mate — a friend
  3. cold — an illness
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. clip — for paper
  6. clip — a video
  7. court — of a king
  8. tube — a container
  9. mate — to breed
  10. tube — the underground
  11. court — for sport
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. court — of law
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. stick — to attach or keep to
  16. mate — a partner
  17. degree — an amount
  18. cold — not warm
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. degree — from a university
  24. clip — to cut

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