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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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468
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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. When was this ________________ built?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. clip — to cut
  5. bore — to tire
  6. wound — an injury
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. fork — in a road
  10. sharp — clever
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. degree — temperature
  13. clip — for paper
  14. band — a ring
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. bore — to drill
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. wound — an injury
  19. band — a music group
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. degree — an amount
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. degree — from a university
  24. temple — a place of worship

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