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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The light ________________ burned out.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. last — final
  3. last — to go on
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. clip — for paper
  6. game — a match
  7. last — finally
  8. degree — an amount
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. bank — of a river
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. bank — for money
  13. bulb — for light
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. game — wild animals
  18. clip — a video
  19. degree — temperature
  20. mine — for digging
  21. clip — to cut
  22. bank — for money
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. bulb — for light

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