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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 124 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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. wake — a trail
  4. degree — an amount
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. band — a music group
  7. game — wild animals
  8. clip — for paper
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. degree — from a university
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. degree — temperature
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. clip — a video
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. game — a match
  21. fork — in a road
  22. band — a ring
  23. dip — to sink
  24. pitcher — a jug

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