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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 always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. degree — an amount
  3. clip — a video
  4. date — the fruit
  5. clip — for paper
  6. march — the month
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. staff — a stick
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. club — a group
  13. staff — employees
  14. march — music
  15. club — for golf
  16. degree — temperature
  17. wound — an injury
  18. march — the month
  19. staff — employees
  20. club — for dancing
  21. clip — to cut
  22. degree — from a university
  23. wound — an injury
  24. straw — dry grass

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