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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. clip — for paper
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. degree — temperature
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — a video
  7. kid — to tease
  8. bore — to drill
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. bat — the animal
  11. rule — a law
  12. season — in sport
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. rule — government
  15. plane — a tool
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. season — of the year
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. degree — from a university
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. kid — child
  23. degree — an amount
  24. plane — in geometry

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