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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 120 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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — for paper
  6. degree — temperature
  7. present — there
  8. degree — from a university
  9. spring — a coil
  10. ruler — a monarch
  11. spring — of water
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. spring — the season
  16. prune — to trim
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. present — a gift
  19. prune — to trim
  20. degree — an amount
  21. present — the time now
  22. clip — to cut
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. ruler — for measuring

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