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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  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 — to cut
  2. degree — an amount
  3. cell — a phone
  4. last — to go on
  5. file — a line of people
  6. stick — to attach or keep to
  7. file — a document
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. last — finally
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. degree — from a university
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. clip — a video
  16. degree — temperature
  17. file — a tool
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. last — final
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. bat — for baseball
  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