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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. degree — an amount
  3. degree — temperature
  4. march — the month
  5. clip — for paper
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. degree — from a university
  10. march — the month
  11. craft — boats
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. sharp — clever
  14. clip — to cut
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. rash — hasty
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. rash — a series
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. march — music
  23. cold — an illness
  24. craft — a skill

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