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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. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — to spread on bread
  2. degree — an amount
  3. pop — to visit
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. last — final
  7. clip — for paper
  8. last — finally
  9. degree — from a university
  10. lean — thin
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. lean — to bend
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pop — music
  16. degree — temperature
  17. last — to go on
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. jam — a tight spot
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. clip — a video
  22. bat — the animal
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. pop — soda

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