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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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. bass — the fish
  5. file — a document
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. degree — an amount
  8. content — the amount
  9. content — happy
  10. file — a line of people
  11. degree — temperature
  12. clip — for paper
  13. bass — low music
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. file — a tool
  17. clip — to cut
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. board — to get on
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. perch — the fish
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. degree — from a university
  24. clip — a video

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