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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  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 — an amount
  2. degree — temperature
  3. hand — in cards
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. hand — help
  8. clip — a video
  9. saw — the tool
  10. rule — a law
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. saw — the tool
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. pound — a weight
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. clip — for paper
  17. sharp — clever
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. clip — to cut
  20. rule — government
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. pound — for dogs
  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