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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. face — part of the head
  3. tube — a container
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. stock — goods
  6. clip — a video
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. face — to confront
  9. degree — temperature
  10. stock — shares
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. degree — from a university
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. club — a group
  17. club — for golf
  18. bat — the animal
  19. clip — for paper
  20. mine — for digging
  21. degree — an amount
  22. face — to point toward
  23. tube — the underground
  24. club — for dancing

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