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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. The tickets are free of ________________.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. pop — to visit
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. content — happy
  5. pop — soda
  6. clip — to cut
  7. degree — from a university
  8. pop — music
  9. bore — to drill
  10. charge — electricity
  11. clip — for paper
  12. shower — to wash
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. clip — a video
  15. shower — rain
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. charge — a price
  19. bore — to tire
  20. content — the amount
  21. charge — in control
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. degree — temperature
  24. lash — an eyelash

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