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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. clip — for paper
  3. chest — of your body
  4. row — a line
  5. row — to paddle
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wake — a trail
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. shower — to wash
  10. shower — rain
  11. chest — a box
  12. degree — from a university
  13. degree — temperature
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. degree — an amount
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. chest — of your body

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