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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  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. degree — an amount
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. clip — a video
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. capital — money
  7. clip — for paper
  8. swing — in golf
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. degree — from a university
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. chip — to eat
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. swing — music
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. chip — for betting
  18. game — a match
  19. chair — a leader
  20. capital — a city
  21. game — wild animals
  22. swing — to play on
  23. clip — to cut
  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