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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. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — a trail
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. object — a thing
  4. content — happy
  5. chair — a leader
  6. dip — to sink
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. degree — an amount
  10. degree — from a university
  11. degree — temperature
  12. object — to protest
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. object — an aim
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. clip — to cut
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. clip — a video
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. mine — for digging
  23. clip — for paper
  24. content — the amount

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