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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. clip — to cut
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. pit — in a race
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. ball — a great time
  7. scale — in music
  8. sharp — clever
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. pit — a hole
  11. degree — temperature
  12. degree — an amount
  13. cap — a lid
  14. cap — a hat
  15. clip — a video
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. ball — a dance
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. degree — from a university
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. clip — for paper
  23. cap — of ice
  24. scale — size or range

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