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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 116 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's one o'clock ________________.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. charge — electricity
  3. saw — the tool
  4. cold — an illness
  5. degree — an amount
  6. sharp — clever
  7. clip — to cut
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. bore — to drill
  10. degree — from a university
  11. saw — the tool
  12. clip — for paper
  13. clip — a video
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. bore — to tire
  16. degree — temperature
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. dip — to sink
  19. charge — a price
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. charge — in control

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