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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. clip — for paper
  4. mate — a partner
  5. clip — a video
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. face — to confront
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. clip — to cut
  12. degree — temperature
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. face — part of the head
  15. cold — not warm
  16. club — for golf
  17. cold — an illness
  18. face — to point toward
  19. club — a group
  20. degree — from a university
  21. dip — to sink
  22. degree — an amount
  23. mate — a friend
  24. club — for dancing

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