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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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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. key — for a lock
  3. wound — an injury
  4. degree — an amount
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. last — finally
  7. rash — a series
  8. clip — to cut
  9. last — to go on
  10. clip — a video
  11. track — a path
  12. wound — an injury
  13. degree — from a university
  14. last — final
  15. key — in music
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. key — the most important part
  18. degree — temperature
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. track — to keep track
  22. clip — for paper
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. rash — hasty

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