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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. degree — from a university
  3. clip — for paper
  4. spell — letters
  5. degree — temperature
  6. spell — magic
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. bass — low music
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. face — part of the head
  12. face — to confront
  13. spell — a short time
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — a video
  17. lie — to recline
  18. face — to point toward
  19. fork — in a road
  20. degree — an amount
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. straw — a straw man

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