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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. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. ground — a position
  3. ground — the earth
  4. clip — for paper
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. degree — temperature
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. clip — a video
  9. lie — to recline
  10. cold — not warm
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. clip — to cut
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. dip — to sink
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. degree — from a university
  19. cold — an illness
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. ground — crushed
  22. wake — a trail
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. dip — to dunk

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