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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. degree — from a university
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. clip — for paper
  7. degree — temperature
  8. plane — a tool
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. present — a gift
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. clip — a video
  18. cold — not warm
  19. present — there
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. cold — an illness
  23. present — the time now
  24. clip — to cut

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