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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  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. cell — a phone
  2. charge — a price
  3. degree — an amount
  4. net — in sport
  5. ball — a great time
  6. object — an aim
  7. charge — electricity
  8. saw — the tool
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. clip — to cut
  11. net — after costs
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. degree — from a university
  14. net — for catching
  15. saw — the tool
  16. cell — in biology
  17. object — a thing
  18. clip — for paper
  19. object — to protest
  20. ball — a dance
  21. degree — temperature
  22. clip — a video
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. charge — in control

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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