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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. prune — to trim
  3. degree — an amount
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. tear — from crying
  6. net — for catching
  7. sharp — clever
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. can — a tin
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. clip — to cut
  14. tear — to rip
  15. net — in sport
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — temperature
  18. prune — to trim
  19. lie — to recline
  20. tear — from crying
  21. can — to be able to
  22. can — a tin
  23. net — after costs
  24. clip — for paper

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