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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. branch — a division
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. bass — the fish
  7. clip — a video
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. kid — to tease
  11. clip — for paper
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. wind — moving air
  14. degree — an amount
  15. kid — child
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. wind — moving air
  18. bass — low music
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — temperature
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. pitch — completely

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