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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. clip — a video
  3. kid — child
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. race — humankind
  6. degree — temperature
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. last — finally
  9. last — to go on
  10. last — final
  11. race — the arms race
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. clip — for paper
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. race — a contest
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. clip — to cut
  21. degree — from a university
  22. kid — to tease
  23. degree — an amount
  24. leaves — to go away

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