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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. swing — in golf
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — a video
  9. degree — an amount
  10. clip — to cut
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. swing — music
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. row — to paddle
  16. row — a line
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. pound — a weight
  20. swing — to play on
  21. degree — temperature
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. degree — from a university

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