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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. ground — a position
  4. degree — from a university
  5. clip — for paper
  6. wound — an injury
  7. content — happy
  8. degree — an amount
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. clip — a video
  12. pit — a hole
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. pit — in a race
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. ground — the earth
  17. ground — crushed
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. wound — an injury
  20. content — the amount
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. clip — to cut
  23. kick — in football
  24. racket — for tennis

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