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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. clip — to cut
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. cell — in biology
  5. row — to paddle
  6. degree — from a university
  7. cell — a phone
  8. clip — for paper
  9. swing — in golf
  10. row — a line
  11. tear — from crying
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. degree — temperature
  16. degree — an amount
  17. tear — from crying
  18. swing — music
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. swing — to play on
  22. capital — a city
  23. tear — to rip
  24. capital — money

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