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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 116 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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. field — a subject
  3. cue — a signal
  4. shower — to wash
  5. rule — a law
  6. field — farmland
  7. clip — to cut
  8. drill — army training
  9. rule — government
  10. drill — the tool
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. degree — from a university
  14. cue — a hint
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. field — for sport
  18. degree — temperature
  19. drill — a practice
  20. clip — a video
  21. shower — rain
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. degree — an amount
  24. cue — for pool

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