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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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. file — a line of people
  4. file — a document
  5. cue — a hint
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. cold — an illness
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. cue — a signal
  11. fork — in a road
  12. degree — from a university
  13. rest — a break
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — not warm
  16. clip — for paper
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. dip — to sink
  19. rest — what's left
  20. cue — for pool
  21. rest — what's left
  22. clip — a video
  23. file — a tool
  24. degree — temperature

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