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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. When are we going to ________________?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. land — to come down
  3. degree — from a university
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. bat — the animal
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. clip — to cut
  8. degree — temperature
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. chip — to eat
  11. vault — a safe
  12. sharp — clever
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. land — a country
  16. land — ground
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. fork — in a road
  19. chip — for betting
  20. degree — an amount
  21. clip — for paper
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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