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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. clip — a video
  3. net — after costs
  4. degree — from a university
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. bass — low music
  7. pop — soda
  8. bore — to tire
  9. pop — music
  10. degree — an amount
  11. degree — temperature
  12. ground — the earth
  13. bass — the fish
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. net — for catching
  16. net — in sport
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. lean — to bend
  19. clip — for paper
  20. lean — thin
  21. ground — a position
  22. pop — to visit
  23. ground — crushed
  24. bore — to drill

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