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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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Word bank
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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. rash — hasty
  4. degree — an amount
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. degree — temperature
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. clip — for paper
  9. clip — to cut
  10. snap — to click
  11. leaves — lets stay
  12. clip — a video
  13. rash — a series
  14. game — a match
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. game — wild animals
  18. degree — from a university
  19. squash — to crush
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. squash — the sport
  24. game — a kind of play

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