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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. clip — to cut
  3. rock — music
  4. ground — crushed
  5. ground — a position
  6. tear — from crying
  7. tear — to rip
  8. degree — from a university
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. clip — a video
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. stand — to bear
  15. degree — temperature
  16. wound — an injury
  17. tear — from crying
  18. wound — an injury
  19. rock — a stone
  20. clip — for paper
  21. degree — an amount
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. ground — the earth
  24. stand — for spectators

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