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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 120 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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. clip — for paper
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — for sport
  6. rule — government
  7. spring — a coil
  8. field — a subject
  9. rule — a law
  10. clip — a video
  11. present — a gift
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. rush — hurry
  14. spring — the season
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. spring — of water
  17. clip — to cut
  18. present — the time now
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. hand — in cards
  21. degree — an amount
  22. hand — help
  23. present — there
  24. degree — from a university

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