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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. swing — in golf
  3. degree — from a university
  4. clip — for paper
  5. clip — a video
  6. face — to confront
  7. face — to point toward
  8. lean — to bend
  9. cap — a hat
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. swing — to play on
  12. degree — an amount
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. clip — to cut
  15. game — a match
  16. cap — a lid
  17. degree — temperature
  18. ruler — a monarch
  19. game — wild animals
  20. cap — of ice
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. swing — music
  24. face — part of the head

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